Back to Basics
by Technophobia678
Summary: hmmm, I'm really going to have to think of my titles before I start writing ahh well-Evolution's beginings if I had my way-which I don't. Will be Bobby/Rouge friendship later on, along with some Canon pairings
1. Chapter 1

A/N: hahaha guess the allure of Evolution is stronger than I thought so I'm back with a new one again. Its Evolution's beginning-my way. Hopefully it'll be good; I've read some great ones on this site. Please review. Please?

Professor Xavier sat behind his desk, his eyes closed. He sighed and gave his head a shake. Time to tell the students. He sent out his mind and called _Scott, Jean, Bobby, to my office please._

He wasn't kept waiting for long. Barely a minute had passed before the door opened and his three current students entered.

"Is everything alright, Professor?" his first student, Scott Summers, Cyclops asked. Tall and solemn faced, wearing his custumal red sunglasses, he was an imposing figure. That is, when he wasn't hit with the occasional twangs of teenage life. He was young, but in his ways and mannerisms he was as old as Xavier himself.

Jean Grey, Marvel Girl perched on a chair in front of Xavier. Also tall, she was a beautiful, willowy young woman, with long red hair and sparkling red eyes. She was the reasonable of the three, the keeper of the peace.

And finally, Bobby Drake, the Iceman was the youngest and most exuberant of the trio. Sandy haired and hazel eyed, he had a lively and infectious grin and nature that made almost anyone like. He was the prankster who made the world seem happier even when it was dark and gloomy. He plopped down on the chair Jean was resting on.

Xavier looked over his protégés, fond memories filling his mind. They were his children in many ways, who shared his thoughts hopes and dreams.

But there were also bad memories, memories that had haunted his nightmares for a long time. For that, Xavier had wrestled with his decision for a long time.

He looked at his students as he made his announcement. "I have decided to reopen the school."

Scott looked surprised, Jean gasped and she smiled widely. Bobby whooped and jumped up in excitement, before being smacked by Jean for nearly knocking her off.

"Professor, that's so great" Jean said in excitement.

"Yeah it is Professor" Scott agreed.

"When are you reopening?" Bobby asked eagerly.

Xavier smiled at his youngest pupil. Of them all, he'd perhaps suffered the worst with the school shut down to new recruits.

"As a matter of fact, a new student will be joining us later tonight" there were intakes of breath from Scott and Jean and an enthusiastic "Awesome!" from Bobby.

"He will be here by the time you get back. He will be your age Bobby, so you will show him around town and school and everything else."

"Ok" he nodded eagerly, delighted at having someone his own age. He loved Jean and Scott (not that he would ever say it aloud) but they were older and viewed him more as a little brother. Jean adored him and him and Scott had had _memorable_ arguments and he did not have close friends around his age, school friends too risky to divulge secrets. He would be glad of a new addition.

"Don't you dare corrupt him Bobby" Scott said, a hint of dry humour bellying the warning.

"Who me?" Bobby asked, looking wide eyed and innocent, a look fooling nobody. Jean was silently giggling, suppressing the urge to laugh. Xavier had to stop himself smiling at his students' antics.

"Yes, you" it was now unclear if Scott was serious or joking, his poker face was impeccable and of course his glasses hid his eyes. "The last thing I need is worrying about another person putting purple dye in my shampoo or dumping a bucket of ice water on me when I'm asleep...."

"That was to help you man" Bobby interrupted. His face was almost as impassive as Scott's, but his eyes were sparkling in mischief. They always gave him away. He flashed a wicked grin. "It was the day of your exams. Hank and I were worried you'd oversleep."

"So you decided to give me a rude awakening?" Scott said archly. Now it was obvious he was joking; if he was angry there'd be a trace of it in his voice. Not that Bobby would pay attention to it.

Bobby grinned. "Well, we were also investigating about whether the idea cold showers help you remember stuff better. Hank said it had something to do with minds able to remember stuff better after the brain gets a sensory shock, like cold water on skin. Or something like that."

"And so you decided to try it on Scott?" Jean couldn't keep the laughter out of her voice now.

"Not all of us are blessed with total recall, Jeannie" Bobby replied unabashed. "It wouldn't work on me, for obvious reasons, it would take a while for Hank to feel anything, Warren's immune to the cold too. So in the interests of science, we did what any scientist would do-and experimented."

He grinned at Scott. "Besides which, you can't refute you got great results in maths, Scottie boy."

"It might have just been your excellent tutoring" Scott said dryly.

"There is that" Bobby made a show of thinking and grinned. "Well an objective scientist has to properly document all factors in an experiment. We could repeat it."

"Not if you want to be blasted into next week, you won't" Scott retorted. Jean had lost it somewhere and was laughing hysterically. She laughed so much; she lost her balance and toppled onto Bobby's lap. This made her laugh harder. Bobby joined in and then Scott followed. Xavier chuckled at their antics. It made him warm inside to see them so happy.

He waved his hands at them. "Go on, I believe you have a previous engagement."

Still giggling, Jean and Bobby hopped up. Jean paused just as they were about to leave, her face turning thoughtful.

"What about Hank and Warren, Professor? Will they be coming back?"

He sighed. "I don't know, Jean. I will talk to them, but both are busy with there own lives now. I do not believe they will return. At least, not yet."

The three looked disappointed.

"Not yet, at least" Bobby, ever the optimist, put in. The familiar cheerful expression returned, but Xavier knew it was a little forced. Hank was his best friend and he missed Warren too.

"Come on" he added impatiently, linking arms with the older two and dragging them out. "We have to go the game and so Jean can take pictures of her boyfriend's sweaty muddy body posing for her viewing pleasure."

Jean's indignant response was cut short when the door shut. Charles chuckled. Finally, things were starting to get more normal.

Or what was normal for the Xavier Institute at least.

*******

The stands of Bayville High Stadium were nearly full just at the half time of the game. Having nothing better to do, or simply people reliving the glory days of high school, most turned up to watch the Bayville Tigers against the Wild Stallions from the town beside them.

Scott sat next to Bobby, idly flicking the dollar coin in his hand through his fingers. The Tigers were currently winning, but Scott really didn't notice. His attention was on the tall red head taking pictures of the captain of the team, Duncan. Large, blonde and tall, he and Scott really didn't get along.

"Earth to Scott" Bobby waved his hand in front of Scott's face.

"Huh?"

"You zoned out buddy" he glanced down and saw what Scott had been looking at. "Oh. Something much more interesting than football, right Scotty?"

"Oh shut up" Scott frowned.

Bobby looked at him shrewdly. "When are you guys going to hook up already? It's been two years; it's getting painful to watch."

"I don't..."

"Yes you do" Bobby rolled his eyes. "It's obvious you guys like each other. And you are a much better guy for her than that performing blonde ape." He jerked his head down at Duncan.

"Jean likes him" Scott gave in. Bobby for all of his jokes was no fool. And he cared deeply for Jean. He'd want her to be happy.

"Jean likes you too" Bobby snorted. "She just doesn't realize Duncan isn't good for her. Yet."

Scott snorted."Really?"

"Really" Bobby nodded vigorously. "You are. Give it time."

Scott looked away from Jean and tried to focus on something else. The mascot provided some mild amusement when he tripped and fell onto part of the crowd.

"Oh and Scott?" Bobby said suddenly. Scott glanced at him to see he was looking intently at him.

"When you and Jean get together, if you screw it up or make her unhappy, you'll be hearing from me" he said in complete seriousness.

Scott felt a little nervous. "And if she hurts me?" He winced slightly at the words. Bobby eyed him for a moment.

"Not that I'd believe Jean would do such a thing" Scott sighed "but I'd have words with her."

Scott glanced at Bobby, who was now looking down at the pitch, a slight grin on his face. Scott grinned too and then cursed as he dropped his coin. It fell down into the dark area below the stands.

He paused as he noticed something. A hand underneath the stands below them, sneakily snatching peoples' wallets.

_Interesting. _Out loud to Bobby he said "back in a minute. Mind my seat okay?"

Bobby eyed his friend as he made his way down the bleachers, in what he'd always dubbed 'Fearless Leader Mode'. He glanced down and grinned.

"You're not leaving me behind" he whispered and got up too.

Below the bleachers, the pickpocket was attracting more attention than he undoubtedly didn't want. Not only had he attracted Scott and Bobby, but also part of the school's football team, who were still waiting for the game to resume. Led by Duncan, the three had cornered the thief as he tried to escape.

"Well boys, it looks like we got a thief on our hands" Duncan sneered, towering over the quivering person in question.

"Yo, come on man, no harm done a' right?" the teen Todd Tolansky said nervously. Small and very scruffy, talking wasn't really helping his state when the others took in his very poor personal hygiene, worn clothes and pale green face.

"It's the new kid" one of Duncan's friends announced as he lifted him upwards, grimacing at the smell.

Duncan just cracked his knuckles threateningly. "What do you think we'll do with him?"

"There's nothing going to happen to him Duncan. Just let him give the money back and leave him alone."

Duncan's friends' paused at the unexpected sight of Scott Summers standing at the entrance under the bleachers, his shades flashing. He looked imposing.

"Summers" Duncan spat at one of his rivals. "Come to the rescue of the Tolansky freak?"

"He's not a freak Duncan" Scott said flatly. "He'll give the money back to those he took it from. No one has to get hurt."

"Yeah, I can do that yo" Todd agreed instantly.

"Awww, I could cry" Duncan smirked as he friends laughed. They dropped Tolansky as they made their way to Scott, prey temporarily forgotten. And prey hopped away, going so quickly that money and wallets lay scattered behind him.

"Hey!" Duncan shouted, but it was too late, he was gone. Duncan glared at Scott. "He got away you jerk!"

Duncan threw a punch. Falling on martial arts, Scott blocked and retaliated, making sure not to knock him out. His two goons sprang into the fight eagerly. Scott blocked their mediocre punches and returned his own, knocking the guys down. Then he saw Duncan charging at him like he would if he was playing football. He tried to dodge, but it was too late. Wind rushed out of his lungs as Duncan rammed him into the bleacher support beam. The momentum knocked his glasses off.

For an instant, his eyes were exposed to the world, before he shut them, but it was too late. The intense red beam of kinetic energy blasted out, slamming into Duncan. From the deafening noise and resounding explosion, it sounded like it had done a lot of damage.

Scott groaned and slid down the support beam, cradling his head. Now he'd done it. Goddamn his powers.

There was a great deal of noise, full of panicked shouts. Scott just stayed where he was, not knowing where his glasses were. They were nowhere near him and if he moved, he could get hit with debris or risk his eyes opening involuntarily.

"Hey" he felt a touch on his arm as he heard Bobby's familiar voice. "Here you go."

Scott felt his shades in his hand and very carefully put them on and hesitantly opened his eyes. The world remained safe, in its familiar shade of red.

Bobby grinned at him and gestured quickly for him to get up. He led him out of the bleacher.

"What's the damage?"

"You took out everything in your line of fire, including most of the other side of the stadium and some support beams. I had to make some ice supports to stop them collapsing." He glanced around. "Jean's taken care of Duncan's friends; she's just dealing with the blonde ape himself."

"Don't call him that Bobby" Jean said reprovingly as she came over. She smiled at Scott. "I'm going to have to wipe the other people's memories; it'll take a little longer." She glanced at Bobby and her face became concerned. "Bobby?"

Scott looked at Bobby. His normally cheerful and unruffled face was pale and blank and he was staring at nothing.

Jean called Bobby's name again and this time he responded. "Yeah?" he answered distractedly. He was now scanning the mingling crowd. Scott noticed his fists were clenched.

"Are you okay?" Jean repeated, grabbing his arm.

He took a deep breath and looked back at his friends anxious faces. "No need to erase their memories, Jeannie." He grimaced. "Emma did."

"What?!" Jean's exclamation drew some funny looks. She looked furious.

"Emma? Emma Frost? What is she doing here? I....."

"Jean not here" Scott hissed. He looked around and motioned for the two to follow him behind a bleacher that was mercifully free of damage and therefore, people and firefighters.

"Oh hang on" Jean said suddenly. She stared at an investigator who was staring at the wreckage. But he then shook his head and Scott could hear his mumble of a gas explosion.

"Now then" she rounded on Bobby. "What about Emma? What did she do? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Jeannie" Bobby said, looking exasperated. "She contacted me on the pitch, said that she was around and that we really weren't great at keeping ourselves hidden some stuff about us and Xavier being idiots and erasing the crowd's memories. She also said she was planning on staying in town for a while" he added, looking at Scott.

"That cow" Jean snarled, eyes flashing. Scott suddenly found himself glad of his glasses, because they hid his eyes and the sudden apprehension he felt in the face of Jean's anger. He'd never say this within ear or mind shot, but when Jean was angry, frankly, it scared him. He never told the guys that, but the feeling they felt the same.

"Jean, calm down" Bobby said, looking less shaken and more normal. "I don't like her either, but we shouldn't let her get to us."

Jean grumbled, but quieted down. Relieved, Scott took charge. "Come on guys. We'll have to tell the Professor."

Jean nodded, her face turned away for a second to the crowd. "The cow is good for something anyway. Everyone thinks it was a gas explosion." There was an ominous look on her face and Scott knew she'd start ranting about Emma again.

Bobby sensed danger too and said quickly "Come on Jeannie we have to go. And while we get back, Scott can fill us in on how he lost his glasses in the first place."

Scott groaned. Trust Bobby.


	2. Chapter 2

While Scott Jean and Bobby were at the football game, Professor Xavier and his friend Ororo Monroe were at the train station, waiting for the new arrival to come off the just arrived train. After several people rushed off, a person of average size came slowly down, completely covered from view in a long green raincoat, the hood pulled over. Xavier raised a hand in greeting.

*******

Barely minutes after they'd come back to the mansion, Scott, Jean and Bobby were summoned by the Professor.

Scott winced.

"He knows" Bobby said, face doom-laden.

They made their way to the study. Inside there was a fire crackling in the fireplace, just in front of the Professor, his face stern.

"Tell me what happened" he said without preamble.

Scott fought the urge to squirm and instead squared his shoulders and relayed his story.

"Scott" Xavier said reprovingly. "These things cannot happen, it's too dangerous."

"It wasn't his fault" Bobby interjected, annoyed. Bobby always defended people whom he felt deserved it. Or even when they didn't. "That idiot made it happen; it's not Scott's fault he picked a fight."

"Even so" casting a quelling glance at Bobby "these things can't happen again. Control, Scott."

"Yes sir" Scott murmured, giving Bobby a warning look as he opened his mouth again. Scott appreciated his support but Xavier was right.

"Well then" Xavier looked around. "Now that that's settled, allow me to introduce our new student."

The others looked around. In the far corner of the room, a figure was just barely noticeable, skulking in the shadows. It slowly came forward and hung behind Xavier's chair. Covered in a long coat it was impossible to see its face.

"This is Kurt Wagner, our new student" Xavier announced. "Please make him feel welcome."

"Hi" Scott said, coming over, only to have the guy back away. He paused, startled. "I'm Scott Summers."

He held out his hand to him. Hesitantly Kurt walked over and shook his hand. His hand felt strange. He looked down and saw a blue, three fingered elongated hand. The reason it was blue was because of soft fur.

He made a small step back in surprise and Kurt noticed. He backed away.

Bobby let out a breath behind Scott. He and Jean had seen the hand too.

"Way to go Slim. Very tactful." He stepped forward himself. "My name's Bobby Drake. Don't worry about Scott, tact isn't his strong suit."

Scott glared at him, but Kurt had stopped backing away at least.

"I'm Jean Grey" Jean finished. "Afraid of what we'll think of your appearance?" she asked telepathically.

Kurt jerked his head back and the hood fell off, revealing a blue face, with pointed ears and a mouth containing very white and very sharp teeth.

"How did you do zhat?" he asked in a German accent, eyes wide.

Jean smiled and a book off the coffee table levitated upwards. "You're not the only one who's a little different."

Kurt stared.

"That's not all" Bobby said casually. He held up his hands and they turned opaque. Fine rivulets of mist circled around them.

Kurt's eyes got even bigger and he approached Bobby. Hesitantly, he looked at him for permission and touched the back of Bobby's hand with a finger. He jumped.

" Zhat's cold!" he exclaimed. Bobby laughed.

"I can turn into ice" he explained. His hand returned to normal but an ice figure of Kurt formed on his palm. "I can also create ice and snow." He nodded to Jean. "Jeannie's a telepath like the Professor and a telekinetic, she can move things with her mind. And Scott..." he held out his hand away from him.

Scott lifted his shades off his nose very slightly and blasted the figurine to icy bits.

"I do that" he finished.

"Wow" Kurt said, looking amazed, all earlier apprehension gone.

"Can you do anything?"

Kurt looked around. There was an odd noise like a 'bamph' and an odd smell and Kurt disappeared, only to reappear beside Jean.

"Maybe" he said, grinning. His previously unnoticed tail was swishing behind him.

"Cool" the other three intoned as one. Professor Xavier was smiling.

"Bobby, will you show Kurt around?"

"Ok" Bobby said excitedly. He grabbed Kurt's arm. "Hang on, I've got a method of transportation too." With his spare hand an ice slide formed and the two raced out of the room on it.

Scott shook his head.

"I believe Bobby has a new friend" Xavier chuckled.

Jean smiled. "Good, it'll be nice for him, he misses Hank. Oh" her face darkened "Emma contacted Bobby at the stadium."

Xavier looked up.

"She erased the minds of those there; made them think it was a gas explosion. And she said that she'd be here for a while."

An expression of concern crossed his face. "Did she contact either of you?"

They shook their heads. "Just Bobby."

"Not truly surprising" he mused. "Very well, keep an eye out. We don't know her intentions."

"Other than being a pain in the..." Jean muttered.

Upstairs, Bobby was showing Kurt his room, just a couple of doors down from his. Kurt looked at the other bed in the room.

"Will I have a roommate?"

"If we get more students" Bobby shrugged. "This stuff is yours, the Professor must have left it."

Opening it, Kurt discovered a uniform. Black with red and gold thread around the cuffs and collars, with a large X scissoring the chest and back of the jacket.

"Wow."

"That's your uniform when we're training."

"Training for vhat?"

"To control and use our powers" Bobby shrugged. "It really helps. When I first came here, I looked like Frosty with boots when I did what I did downstairs."

Kurt laughed and looked at the other curiously. "Vhat is it like, vhen you change? Does it hurt?"

"No, it feels" he paused "natural, I suppose. But I'd hate it if I was stuck like that, I'd probably melt." He looked at Kurt. "What about you?"

"It doesn't hurt, but" he trailed off and gestured at his tail. Bobby nodded.

"A friend of mine feels the same. Granted it's not as bad, but he's got a pair of wings."

"Wings? Really?"

"Really" Bobby laughed. " He loves 'em, but people would freak out."

"Da" Kurt agreed as he unpacked his things. Bobby looked in the box again.

"Oh" he said suddenly, pulling out what looked like a watch. "Put this on and press this button."

Bewildered, Kurt obeyed and Bobby stared. "Vhat?"

He gestured at the mirror and Kurt gasped in shock. Staring back at him was a perfectly ordinary teenage boy, with bluish black hair and tanned skin.

"Vhat....?"

"It's a holo-imager. You can wear it outside."

"Zhat's great" Kurt breathed, his eyes shining. Bobby grinned.

"Glad you think so. You don't need it here, but if you want to you can play with it for a while."

"Cool" Kurt grinned widely.

In another state, a short, broad man got off his motorbike and walked into a far from anywhere store.

"Water" he grunted at the owner, who pulled out a cold bottle of water form the fridge, while his customer glanced over the newspapers. One got his eye screaming 'GAS EXPLOSION AT HIGHSCHOOL FOOTBALL GAME!'

The man grunted just as the owner handed him his drink.

"Gas explosion" he commented unnecessarily. He picked up the paper and began to read. "Terrible thing."

His customer just grunted and in his unique way, opened his bottle. Ten seconds later, he dropped it in front of the owner. "Recycle that, will 'ya?" He was out the door before the owner could respond, or more likely ask what he'd done to his bottle.

School next day was not really fun.

Scott had told the Professor about the new kid, Todd Tolansky and he was fairly sure he was a mutant. The Professor asked the three students for one of them to talk to him, but be discreet.

Jean however, had disappeared with the cool people much to Scott's irritation. Bobby just laughed and said he'd keep an eye out, but Scott had his doubts on him.

As luck would have on Scott, Todd decided to talk to him. Or not.

"Yo, you're Summers. Well thanks for last night" Todd said, eyeing him.

"Don't mention it. Uh, what are you doing?" he asked. Not only did Todd look and smell worse than last night, he was also hanging off the lockers with ease.

"You know, just chillin'" he glanced at the bin a little off to his right. His mouth opened and a slimy green tongue shot out and snatched a fly hovering over it. It rammed back home and he munched contentedly.

Scott was shocked and also grossed out. Tolansky was definitely one of them. "What are you doing?" he hissed, glancing around to make sure they were alone.

Todd looked at him."Saw you last night man. We're the same."

"Yeah but we can't just do that stuff in the public" Scott glanced around again.

"S'matter, it's what we are right?" a sudden evil grin crossed his face and he leapt at Scott, his tongue extending. Scott felt it grab his glasses and only just managed to shut his eyes.

"Give those back!" he snapped, reaching out blindly. Todd chuckled.

"S'matter Summers, why not open those peepers?" From the small noise of metal, he was leaping from locker to locker.

"We both now what'll happen if I do" Scott snarled.

"What's going on?" A familiar voice cut in. Scott mentally sighed. Bobby.

"Who're you?" Todd asked curiously.

"Give him back his shades" Bobby snapped, skipping pleasantries.

"What's it to you? Saw you last night too, what are ya, his girlfriend?" He laughed and the sound of his tongue flashing out. Scott shuddered. The noise was hideous.

Todd yelped and by the sound of it, fell. Bobby's voice sounded closer and also colder.

"Listen up, Flyboy, drop the glasses like a good man and I'll unfreeze that tongue of yours, got it?"

Todd made a most unmanly whimper. There was a little clatter and then the sound of metal being hit.

Bobby made a noise of disgust. "Hang on a sec Slim, just gotta get the slime off."

"That's a little harsh" Scott observed.

The shades were shoved on his nose. He opened his eyes. There was Bobby and around their feet lay little shards of icy gunk.

"Not harsh, fact. Even I wouldn't be so mean as letting you put those things on when slime from a guy's mouth was all over it."

"Thanks, I guess" he picked up his bag. "And do you have to keep rescuing me?"

Bobby arched an eyebrow. "You'd rather Jean see the Fearless Leader lose your glasses to a rampaging ape and a guy with serious hygiene and social problems? It's fairly entertaining."

Scott winced. When put like that.... "He's definitely one of us" trying to get off the subject.

Bobby smirked, obviously noticing. "You gonna offer him a place? You now if he accepts, there's no way he's getting in there without a shower right?"

They were interrupted by Principle Darkholme, who came striding down the hall, her hawk like features narrowing as she took in the sight of them.

"Is there a reason you pair are in the halls during your lunch hour, Misters Summers and Drake?"

"Talking about girls miss" Bobby answered, before Scott answer. He shrugged at the principal.

"Well kindly take it to the cafeteria gentlemen" her eagle eyes watched them go. Scott glanced at Bobby and mouthed "_girls?"_

He shrugged again as they entered the cafeteria. "She didn't ask for more. And we didn't get detention."

Later that night, a lone figure was moving swiftly through the dense forestry that hid the Xavier mansion. Todd Tolansky hopped through the dark shadows, moving quite stealthily. Alas not stealthily enough not to be detected. Although in fairness, he wasn't expecting a flying weather witch in his quest.

Buoyed up by fierce gales of her own creation, Storm hurled lightning at the teen. Said teen shrieked like a kettle and scrambled madly for cover. Only to be lifted by enormous winds and flung to the direction of the house.

Scott and Jean were walking down the stairs in uniforms where Bobby and Kurt also stood, similarly dressed.

"How's the uniform?" Scott asked Kurt.

"Very....official" Kurt proclaimed finally, glancing at Bobby who was snickering.

With a loud bang, the front doors burst open and a squealing Todd Tolansky soared in at high speeds. He headed straight for the group and crashed into Kurt as he dove for cover. Reflexively, Kurt teleported.

The other three looked around. "Where'd they go?" Bobby wondered. Jean ran to a computer console.

Meanwhile, Kurt and Todd were detangling from each other, cursing. When Kurt straightened he frowned. This was an unfamiliar room, he'd never been in here before. Before he could ponder any further, panels on the walls opened, revealing shiny and comic book looking laser guns emerged.

_Uh-oh. _

Jean Scott and Bobby raced to the Danger Room finding the room in utter chaos. Both Todd and Kurt were very agile, and had apparently managed to dodge the room's barrage. Without preamble, Jean launched into the air, telekinetic shields forming around the two teens. While she kept them safe, Scott gave cover while Bobby deactivated the room's defences.

"Sorry about that, the room is very heavily protected" Jean explained as she drifted to the two wall hugging teens. "Are you two ok?"

Todd gave a high pitched screech and bolted for the door. "I'm outta here, you crazy people!"

Scott and Jean ran after him, while Bobby checked on Kurt. "Man, I'm an idiot" Kurt mumbled. Bobby shook his head.

"What this? This is nothing, don't worry about it. There'll be plenty of opportunity to make mistakes here-if you can handle it?" Bobby looked rather solemn at this.

Kurt looked at him. "I can still stay?" Bobby nodded. Kurt grinned. "I am staying." Bobby grinned too.

Outside Todd was still racing from what he'd called 'the mad people' still squealing, he glanced backwards for a second before slamming into something and falling over.

He stared upwards at a large man, dressed in a shirt, jeans and cowboy boots and hat. A toothpick in his mouth he stared at the boy motionlessly for a second before shifting it to the other side of his mouth. "Somethin' the matter, bub?"

Todd lost it. Screaming even louder than before he leapt away. Snorting, he walked over to Storm, Jean and Scott.

"Logan" Ororo said brightly, smiling. Her face was welcoming, but amused. "You seem to have scared away a potential student."

Logan snorted. "Kid that scared of you lot, just as well I showed up."

"Are you back again, Logan?" Jean asked.

His lips twitched. "I'm here, ain't I?"

Jean opened her mouth to retort, but was interrupted by the arrival of the Professor.

"Logan" he said in welcome. He looked at the others and taking the hint they left.

"Back again?"

Logan smiled slightly. "Figured you could use a hand."

Xavier smiled too.

A/N: what do you think? My story is going to follow Evolution for the first couple of chapters but after that, I'm going my way. Until then though.

Just in case I haven't said it, I don't own Evolution. If I did, it'd still be on the telly!


	3. Chapter 3

In Illinois, a girl was flying. Kitty Pryde was drifting upwards like an errant balloon over the skyscrapers of New York. She peered fearfully at the enormous drop to the concrete below. And then whatever force holding her aloft vanished.

She screamed as she plummeted towards the Earth. Her eyes flew open in terror. She was lying flat on her back in her parent's basement. Her breathing was rapid and her pulse was racing.

"Honey?" her parents had come running.

"Sweetheart what are you doing down here?"

Kitty clung to her mother and started to cry. "I-I-I fell through the ceiling" she sobbed.

As her mother comforted her, her father involuntarily looked upwards. Kitty's duvet was hanging suspended halfway through the ceiling.

*

Later in the morning at Xavier's Charles summoned the older students at breakfast.

"Good morning" he greeted, smiling at their tiredness. Logan's return meant that early morning sessions had resumed.

"What's good about it?" Bobby snarked, his hair flyaway. Jean yawned.

"I've detected two new mutant signatures" this got their attention. Scott straightened, Jean blinked and Bobby looked vaguely interested.

"The signatures are reasonably close to one another and I think we should invite them to the Institute. Jean I want you come. I believe you will encourage the girl, a Kitty Pryde."

Jean suppressed a grimace. She didn't like trying to recruit.

"And the other is a boy, a Lance Alvers. Bobby, I'd like you to deal with him."

Bobby jerked his head up, now looking awake.

"Me?" he repeated. "Why?"

"From what I gather, Lance is a rebel. I don't believe Scott will make any headway to him and Kurt is too new for such a mission. I am uncertain about his willingness to join, but I believe you would have the best chance to persuade him."

Jean was beginning to look uneasy, but Bobby nodded.

"As for you Scott" he turned to him "I would appreciate it if you helped Kurt get adjusted and show him around Bayville."

Scott nodded, but felt a little aggrieved. The others were going out on a mission and he was stuck with Kurt who had a sense of humour similar to Bobby's. He was doomed.

Bobby smirked at him. Despite the telepaths in the room, Bobby was probably the only one who knew what Scott was thinking. The ass.

Half an hour later, Jean, the Professor and Bobby were in the jet, flying out to Illinois. It was spent in playful banter between Jean and Bobby while the Professor flew.

They landed outside the town ten minutes later.

"Alright" the Professor mused. "Jean and I will go to the Pryde's. Bobby, Avlers is a foster child and he doesn't like them. Try the school, but engage with him one on one, no onlookers. He might get unruly with a crowd."

Bobby nodded and moved off. Jean frowned, not liking Bobby going on his own. He managed to get himself into plenty of trouble with his friends, never mind on his own.

_Come along Jean. He can take care of himself. _Jean sighed and followed the Professor.

Kitty Pryde crept down the stairs, ears alert for her parents. After last night, she craved for things to become a little more normal. Her parents weren't discussing what had happened but their hovering was getting to her. School never seemed so attractive.

She had just opened the front door when her mother spotted her. _Drat. _

"Honey, where are you going?"

"School" she answered simply.

"I thought we'd agreed you'd stay home today after...." she trailed off.

Kitty sighed. "Yeah, but that doesn't change what happened, you know? You guys aren't talking about it and I'm going stir-crazy doing nothing."

Her father's voice echoed down the stairs. "Kitty? Honey, where are you?"

"Please Mum" she whispered pleadingly. Her mother looked at her and then waved her hand in reluctant assent. Kitty smiled in thanks and left.

At the school, Bobby was quietly assessing the area. Damn Wolverine, but some of his training had taken hold and he had located every exit and entrance to the building, while he pondered what to do next. He knew what Alvers looked like and like Xavier he knew school and pals hanging around wasn't a very good time to offer someone a place in the Institute. It might be better after school, or lunch, somewhere they could talk freely. People didn't like people who were different, something Bobby had learnt very early.

Or it might be better just to see what happened.

Back at Bayville, Kurt was hurrying to school.

"Damn, late again" he swore. He really had to stop going to the cafe before school, he kept running late. He glanced at his watch and then around him. With a slight noise, he disappeared and reappeared just in front of the school doors. He sighed and then let out a small choking noise. Principal Darkholme had appeared out of nowhere.

"Mister Wagner, you are late again" she said severely.

"Yes-s , I vas..."

"Kurt there you are" with impeccable timing Scott appeared. "Your home teacher sent me to find you. Hello, Principal Darkholme" he said politely as he shepherded a relieved Kurt away. Darkholme watched them go.

"Thanks man" Kurt breathed, eyes wide. "Sorry, she's scary."

"She's not too bad" Scott said dismissively. And then he frowned. "But you wouldn't have to worry about it if you stopped going to Harry's for muffins every morning." He looked pointedly at the package in Kurt's hand.

Kurt smiled sheepishly. "Zhey are really good."

Scott rolled his eyes.

In Illinois, Kitty was rummaging in her bag with one hand as she opened her locker with the other. Unbeknownst to her, two of her class mates had spotted her and had started whispering. Kitty was oblivious... right until she got shoved forward.

"Ow!" she cried. The locker's door slammed shut, trapping her inside and she heard cruel laughter from behind the door.

"Tough luck Kitty Cat" Amanda Hemming taunted as she and her friend Sarah left, laughing.

"Come on, let me out!" Kitty shouted, hammering on the door. She pounded on it, before stopping with a groan. What a great day this turned out to be.

Just outside, Lance Alvers emerged from the boys toilets. Whistling, he sauntered up the hall, spray-painting a long orange line along the lockers.

Kitty heard him and started banging the door again. "Hey! Let me out!"

Alvers was just in front of her locker when the sudden emergence of Kitty _through_ the locker startled them both and they crashed into each other, tumbling to the floor.

Breathing hard, Kitty stared at her hands, stunned. It hadn't been a dream last night. It hadn't been a mistake. She had gone through the ceiling and now she had gone through the locker door.

"Whoa" Kitty whipped around at a very cute bad guy teen's sudden exclamation. His appearance was somewhat ruined by the streak of spray paint across his face that he'd accidently aimed in his direction when Kitty barrelled into him.

"That was amazing!" he exclaimed. "Did you see what you _did_?"

Frightened, Kitty stood up and started to back up. "I don't know..."

"You're just like me!" he said brightly. He held up his hand to stop Kitty running off. "Wait just watch." Apprehensively, Kitty hesitated as Lance looked around, checking for people. Then he thrust out his hands and his eyes rolled upwards.

Instantly, the ground began to shake violently. Lockers burst open, spilling their contents onto the floor and Kitty struggled to remain upright.

Lance blew out a breath and sagged. The tremors ceased. He grinned triumphantly at Kitty.

"I'm Lance Alvers" he held out a hand.

Kitty didn't answer. She gaped at Lance in shock. And then she ran.

"Hey wait" Lance cried, but it was too late, she was gone.

"Tough luck" Lance whirled to see an unfamiliar guy about his age come over. Alvers tensed.

"I'm Bobby" he introduced himself. "I take it she wasn't impressed by your charms, huh?"

Lance scowled, but his thoughts were racing. Had this guy seen him and Kitty? Without a word, he walked off. Bobby followed.

"Hey listen" he began, but Lance grew annoyed. With a flick upwards the tremor sent sprinklers into life, drenching the hall behind him.

The guy yelped. Satisfied Lance walked off and then skidded slightly.

"What the-?"

The floor in under him was suddenly icy. Nonplussed, he stared at the ground and then spun when he heard the guy chuckle, struggling not to fall.

The hall was suddenly a winter wonderland. The water from the sprinklers had frozen as it had been released, lancing from the ceiling. Frost sparkled off the ground, the lockers and split contents. It was actually very pretty. Standing in the middle of this, the Bobby guy stood, arms folded, smiling slightly.

"Like it?" he grinned. He flicked a hand and a fountain of ice returned to water. It levitated upwards, defying gravity, spiralling gracefully.

Lance stared. Bobby smiled. "You're not the only ones who are different."

Lance blinked. "How many of us are there?"

Bobby shrugged. "Quite a lot actually. I'm from a group of them and we were wondering if you wanted to join."

As he said this Bobby felt slightly sceptical. From what he'd seen of Lance, he was a little bit of a loner. He hung out with a bunch of guys but he wasn't very loyal to them. He guessed that Lance wasn't a team player and nor did it appeal to him. Sure enough, his face went from astonished to wary.

"And do what?"

Bobby shrugged easily. "You learn to use your powers. You train. You fight. And occasionally we protect people from madmen."

Lance's face was immobile. "Thanks for the offer." He walked off. And this time Bobby didn't follow him. Hounding him wouldn't help. He glanced at his watch. He had a couple of minutes before class changed to get rid of his demonstration.

Jean and the Professor had gone to the Pryde's house. Jean wasn't sure why she was here when it was Kitty she was to interact with and she was at school, but the Professor insisted.

The door opened and a middle age woman appeared. She eyed the two.

"Good morning Mrs. Pryde. I am Charles Xavier and this is Jean Grey. We are here to talk to you about your daughter Kitty."

The woman stared at him. "Honey, who's there?" Her husband appeared behind her, looking at the two strangers.

"" Xavier inclined his head. "As I have said to your wife, I am here to talk to you about your daughter Kitty and her newly discovered 'gift'."

"I don't know what you're talking about" the man declared, the door gap inching closed.

"I think you do, . We wish to help. Tell me" he leaned forward slightly "what happened last night?"

They both flinched, but Mr. Pryde stood firm. "I'm afraid I cannot help you. Leave us alone please." and the door shut.

"That went well" Jean commented.

"As well as can be expected" Xavier sighed. "Jean, go to the school and try and talk to Kitty personally. I will return to the jet and come back later to the Pryde's for a second attempt."

"Professor, I don't think I would be very good" Jean protested. "She's younger than me and I am not good with...."

_You'll be fine, _Charles telepathically cut in._ You know what she's going through and I have every confidence in your abilities._

She sighed. _Yes Professor._

In Bayville, Logan was out on his bike relishing the cool breeze that was balm to the glaring sun. He might be back to the mansion, but he loved a good ride on his bike. He was entering the mansions gates when a familiar scent caught his attention. He stopped and took off his helmet, sniffing deeply. He growled.

"Sabertooth."

Kitty hurried to gym practise, keen on getting as far away from that Lance guy as possible.

"You're late Pryde" the coach barked at her. Amanda and Sarah caught sight of her and sniggered.

"Sorry coach-locker trouble" silently willing herself not to rise to the bait.

"Long jump" the coach grunted. Kitty silently grimaced. She hated gym.

Taking a deep breath, she broke into a run straight for the sand pit. She stumbled as she took off and landed in a heap.

Amanda and Sarah laughed in mirth. "Hemming! Your turn! Watch Pryde." Silently, Kitty returned to the side as Amanda flounced past.

"Watch how a real athlete does it" she sneered.

Up on one of the buildings roofs, Lance watched the whole thing. Two guys were muttering behind him, but he ignored it. He also made himself ignore the memory of the Bobby guy and his offer. He wanted to focus on Kitty.

He narrowed his eyes at the two girls clearly making fun of Kitty's mishap. He tightened his fist as the next girl took her turn.

With a superior look in Kitty's direction, Amanda took off gracefully. Lance let loose.

A rumble went through the earth and Kitty gasped in surprise. Amanda in the air, let out a shriek as the ground suddenly shot upwards to meet her. She landed in a sprawled heap. Kitty spun around in a circle. Sure enough she saw that Lance guy on a low roof nearly by, waving.

Kitty felt fear rise in her. Without waving back she ran off.

Lance watched her go just as one of the guys tapped him on the shoulder.

"What?"

"Alvers this isn't going to help us get those exams" the guy pointed out hesitantly; Alvers was known for his temper. "They found this way in and closed it. That's the last one."

Lance frowned. Then he glanced at where he'd last seen Kitty. He smirked.

Kitty ran into the school theatre. Mercifully no one else was there, though it was full of school props.

Fear suddenly turned to anger. What was _happening_ to her? What was with that Lance guy? What were they, freaks?

Impulsively, she kicked a basket flying. Fuming she plonked herself down on a coffee table. The table promptly tipped off almost sending her to the floor and throwing a fruit bowl with fake fruit into the air.

Startled, she reflexively threw her hands up to catch the bowl. Her hands contacted the bowl-and the bowl went straight through them. She yanked her hands away in shock.

She stared at the bowl. Hesitantly she squatted down and cautiously reached to touch it. Her hand connected. Frowning, she thought to herself. She pushed a little harder, willing her hand to pass through. There was a little resistance and then her hand sank through the bowl as though water.

"Kitty?"

Shocked, she jumped and whirled around. Approaching her was a very tall and pretty redheaded girl. She smiled at Kitty.

"Hi Kitty."

"Who-who are you?"

"I'm Jean" the girl introduced coming closer. "And I'm here to talk to you. About your amazing gift."

Kitty snorted. Gift? Yeah right. More like a curse. A thought struck her and she glared at Jean. "Why is everyone coming after me? Why won't you leave me alone?"

"Kitty" Jean raised her hands in appeasement. "Could you just watch me for a second?"

Kitty continued to glare. Jean concentrated.

The fruit bowl levitated into the air from Kitty's feet. She leapt backwards as it soared and landed gracefully back onto the table.

"How did you do that?" Kitty gasped, backing away.

"With my powers" Jean smiled sympathetically. "When I first got my powers I freaked out like you. I thought they were awful. But I now know they're not a curse rather a gift. I know what you're going through."

"You don't know what I feel" Kitty snapped.

"Erm, actually I do" Jean looked uncomfortable. "I can read your thoughts."

Kitty backed away in horror. "Stay out of my head!" she screamed and raced off.

"Kitty wait!" Jean called, but it was too late, she was gone. She groaned.

"Bad thing to admit Jeannie" Bobby's amused voice came from the other door. He walked over and leant against the wall beside her.

Jean groaned again. "I'm rubbish at this kind of stuff."

"No you're not. You're brilliant at talking to people. Kitty's just scared." He bumped shoulders with her. "For what it's worth, I don't think Lance is going to join either. I get the feeling he's the 'I go my own way just try and stop me kind of guy'. And speaking of which" his face went serious "I think he's trying to get to Kitty. He saw her use his powers and I'm pretty sure he's planning on something. He was on the top of an office building when I last saw him."

Jean frowned and let her mind stretch out to envelop the area. Her eyes widened. "Uh-oh."

Scott and Kurt were returning back to the mansion after school. They had just pulled into the garage when they saw Logan. He was wearing a bright black and yellow suit and mask. Without acknowledging them he gunned his bike's engine and shot out.

"Vhat vas that about?"

"Looks like trouble" Scott frowned and doubled back to his car. He hesitated as he took in Kurt. "You coming?"

In answer, Kurt bamphed into the passenger seat. "Drive."

Logan was moving quickly through traffic now, the smell of Sabertooth strong on the wind. He passed the school and turned off towards the local shopping mall. The scent grew stronger as he turned into the multi-storey parking.

With a roar, Sabertooth slammed into him, sending them both skidding sideways. Snarling in return, Logan twisted the brakes. The bike lurched to a halt and threw Sabertooth into the air. He twisted and landed gracefully.

"Wolverine" he hissed.

"Sabertooth" Logan returned.

Nothing more was said as they fell back to familiar ground-fighting.

By the time Scott and Kurt caught up, the battle was in full swing. The section of parking they were fighting on in rubbles.

Kurt teleported into the fray just as Sabertooth knocked Logan back and slammed into him. Startled, Sabertooth faltered and then retaliated, sending Kurt flying to a support column. He teleported away just in time.

Scott opened up his visor. His beam caught Sabertooth in the middle and he went flying just Wolverine reappeared.

Sabertooth snarled at them and then sneered at Wolverine. "Very brave of you Wolverine, having children fight your battles for you."

He flung a section of concrete at them. Scott blasted it away, but in the few seconds, Sabertooth was gone.

Logan gave a roar of frustration and spun to face the two confused teens.

"Vhat vas zhat about?"

"Personal" Logan ground out as he stalked past. "And I didn't need any help."

The two teens glanced at each other and shrugged.

Kitty silently took her books out of her locker. Her head ached from all the drama of the day. And it didn't help when someone touched her shoulder.

She spun somehow going into a defensive position.

It was Lance and he jerked backwards.

"Eurgh" she snarled before he could say anything. "Why won't you people leave me alone?" she turned away.

"You hate it, don't you?" Lance's voice stopped her. "Hate when you use it, knowing that no one will understand you be afraid of you?" He approached her. She looked at him and didn't back away.

"No one understands what it's like to be us" he continued. "We're outcasts. The world doesn't want us, so" he looked at Kitty's watering eyes "we don't want them."

Kitty didn't resist as Lance touched her arm. He smiled. "We can be outcasts together."

He pulled her along. And Kitty followed.

Jean and Bobby were outside the school building.

"I know what Lance's up to" Jean looked at Bobby.

Bobby's face was grim.

"Ok, you should go and try talk Kitty out of it" Jean opened her mouth in protest. "You can do it Jeannie. Contact the Professor and I'll pick him up, ok?"

She hesitated and nodded, closing her eyes. She opened them seconds later. "He wants you to meet him at the Pryde's. And step on it."

Bobby blinked and nodded. Jean nodded; indicating the place was clear; school was over the, place was nearly empty. Ice formed around his feet and he shot up onto an ice slide. Jean cast her mind out. No one was around. She ran off.

"I don't know about this Lance" Kitty said nervously. Not only was she reluctant to try and use her powers consciously, but what building Lance wanted her to try made her uneasy. Her conscious protested at essentially breaking into the school office.

"You can do it Kitty" Lance said smiling. "What ever we want to do, right? You can do it."

His confidence raised her own. Closing her eyes, she willed herself to use her power.

Hesitantly she stepped forward. And again and again. She opened her eyes tentatively, just to see her in the small cluttered office. She looked back and saw her leg still half outside and brought it in. She exhaled and then cautiously touched the wall. She giggled. She had done it! Skipping to the door, she opened it and threw herself at Lance.

"I did it Lance! I did it!"

"That was so great Kitty" he enthused and Kitty smiled into his chest, feeling happier than she had all day.

Now that she had accomplished it, she was ready to leave, but Lance was rummaging around. Looking at what was in his hand, she paused. They were the answers for the finals in a week.

"Lance what are you doing?" she said slowly as he powered up the computer.

"Just having some fun" he responded cheerfully. He was scrolling through what Kitty saw was the files and grades of all the students.

"Is that what this is all about?" she said in shock. "Stealing answer sheets and changing grades?"

"Don't be silly Kitty" Lance peered at the screen. "Hmmm, let's see. Katherine Pryde. Let's fix that gym grade while we're here."

"No!" she grabbed his arm, growing upset. "Lance I'm- I'm going."

He looked at her in surprise and the beginnings of a temper. "What? Why?" he grabbed her arm. "Kitty..."

"Kitty!?"

Kitty whirled. Coming into the office was the girl Jean, a boy she didn't know and with them were her parents.

"Kitty honey we're sorry" her mother blurted out.

Lance growled and started pulling Kitty back with him.

"Let go!" Kitty tugged on her arm, but Lance didn't let go.

"Let my daughter go!" her father bellowed, striding forwards.

Lance held out his free hand. Instantly the entire office and outside it shook violently. Large bookcases tipped forward and divulged their contents onto Kitty's father. The smell of gas suddenly entered the room from outside. Jean and the guy exchanged glances. The boy ran back out and Jean ran forwards, the books and debris from the ceiling lifting upwards.

"Daddy!" Kitty cried, pulling harder.

"We don't need them Kitty" Lance growled. "We don't need _anyone_."

"Sweetheart I'm sorry" her father gasped, struggling upwards. He couldn't get any closer because of the vibrations and debris, but his voice was strong. "I'm sorry for not being understanding and pushing you away. We love you honey, please don't do this."

Lance began to drag a struggling Kitty back towards the wall and with a rumble it collapsed.

"Come on Kitty, you're with me now."

"No I'm not!" Kitty yelled. And at that her powers surfaced, her hand slipping free. She ran back towards the others-just as the roof caved in, burying her.

Lance swore and ran. Jean threw her hands up struggling to protect herself and Kitty's parents. Her mind strained to hold the sheer volume of concrete and insulation raining down. Her powers were hampered by her fears- that she couldn't sense Kitty, the Pryde's crying, worry for Bobby who was securing the rest of the building-her concentration was wavering.

And then Kitty walked through the solid concrete slab. She moved hesitantly but grinned when she passed clear through. "Whoa." Her parents looked up in shock. "Kitty!" They flung themselves onto their suddenly solid daughter.

Pulling free, Kitty held out her arms. "Ok, everyone hang onto me."

The Professor had arrived with Bobby and the Prydes, but remained outside while they talked to Kitty. He drew a sharp breath as a section of the school where the group was collapsed. His face split into a broad grin however as they abruptly came through the fallen concrete.

Now safe, the Prydes hugged while Jean walked over to the Professor.

"Very good Jean" he said quietly.

"Where's Bobby?" she asked looking around.

"Here" a familiar voice called and they looked up to see Bobby on his ice slide. He landed next to them. "Just managed to turn off the gas and froze the pipe tunnels for good measure. I'll undo it in a second." He looked around at the Prydes. "How's it going?"

Xavier smiled and rolled over to the Prydes, his students following.

Nearby, Lance Alvers was muttering under his breath as he trudged off. So much for that dump. Or that Pryde. He grimaced.

"Well, it looks like you need a new school" a female voice said, her tone amused. Lance started as a tall hawk like woman appeared in front of him. Two minutes later, he was following her, taking his new situation, his helper and her true form's appearance into stride.

Not to bad for a Monday.

A/N: Wow it's been about a week since I've updated, not good! In fairness my Harry Potter fic hasn't been updated in about three. I really have to learn how to time manage. Anyway I hope people are enjoying this. It's going to follow the Evolution plot for a couple more chapters but then is going off the rails completely. Until then however.


	4. Chapter 4

In Mississippi, a party was raging. A small, but lively event, teenagers danced and drank to the loud pop music blaring from several stereos. In the midst of the hormone filled scene, a young gothic girl danced alone to the beat of the music. Dressed in dark clothes, most of her skin covered, she spun, letting her body flow with the beat, her odd two tone short hair spinning around. Quite pretty in a dark and gothic way, she soon attracted attention.

"Hey" a voice pulled her back to reality. It was a guy around her age, a typical jock; tall muscle bound and blonde, pretty good looking.

"Hi" she responded warily; her heavy Southern accent coming through. She stopped dancing.

"D'you wanna dance?" he asked, smiling almost shyly. Not a typical jock then; those jerks that assumed being a football player meant they were gods in human form.

Still, she edged away. "Sorry, but no thanks."

Sadly however, the guy didn't take the hint. "Oh, come on" he protested, reaching out to touch her arm. "You're dancing all alone, you need a partner."

"Ah said no" she responded firmly. Just behind the jock, she could see two guys obviously the jocks friends laughing and catcalling. No doubt their presence was making the guy push it.

"Come on" he persisted, grasping her wrist. She pulled away and he held on. In doing so, he touched her bare skin by accident.

The two cried out, attracting attention. The girl yanked herself free, shaking, her mind suddenly in turmoil. The jock collapsed, twitching.

"Pete!" one of his mates cried, running over. The party broke up as they took in the scene. One of the guys pulled out a phone. Pete didn't respond. His friend whirled.

"What the hell did you do?"

He tried to grab her arm. Panicking she stumbled back as he advanced. Something in her mind shifted.

Running forward, she tackled the guy, football style. He went down in a heap, as Rouge, the girl raced out of the house, trying to get rid of the overload of images swirling in her confused and frightened mind.

Not to far away, a beautiful woman climbed out of a car and entered an ordinary looking house in a quiet neighbourhood. The minute the door closed, she morphed into a shapely female figure with deep red hair. Except her body was dark blue.

She stalked into the living room of the house, where a middle age woman sat waiting, her hands clasped on her lap, her eyes hidden by sunglasses.

"You said this was important" the blue guest skipped pleasantries.

"She will manifest tonight Mystique." The woman took her glasses off and looked in her guest's direction. Her eyes were milky white in the low lighting.

Xavier was in Cerebro when an alarm chimed. Frowning, he focused his attention on the disturbance.

He summoned the X-Men two minutes later.

"What's up Chuck?" Logan lounged forward into the room, in front of a fidgeting Scott.

"I've detected another signature. This one requires caution." The small group quietened.

"It is a teenage girl in Mississippi. Her powers manifested several minutes ago and have terrified her. We need to move swiftly before anything happens. Everyone is to come."

"Professor, Bobby has his basketball game" Jean spoke up.

Xavier sighed. He'd forgotten.

"We can manage without him, provided we are careful. The nature of this girl's power is unclear for the moment, but it has had an impact on her. We have to intervene before she endangers herself or anyone else. Meet in the cargo bay in five minutes. Yes, you and Kurt can come Kitty" Xavier answered before she could ask. She smiled and the group left.

"Hey a mission already sweet" Kurt said enthusiastically, draping an arm over Kitty's shoulder. She phased away, still spooked about his appearance. Jean and Scott exchanged glances at their enthusiasm.

Less than five minutes later, they were in the sky. Kurt had been yelled at by Logan for his fooling about as he tried to impress Kitty. It hadn't worked.

They landed in the outskirts again. Logan hopped out of the jet, sniffing the air. Storm came out, pushing the professor's chair.

"She is nearby" Xavier informed them. "I cannot get a clear lock on her, so move out and look around. Logan, you Kurt and Kitty take the northern cul-de-sac, Scott, Storm and Jean with me. And do not startle her. She is very scared."

The girl in question, Rouge, was wandering around the neighbourhood. She was shivering. Her mind was swimming in memories, memories that weren't hers. Her feet dragged along. She came to a sudden stop.

The house in front of her looked exactly like the ones beside it, yet to Rouge it was different. It was home.

Hesitantly she walked up the path. She pushed at the door handle. Locked. She picked up a flower pot among its fellows. Underneath was the spare key.

She opened the door. It was small and relatively messy. She knew why of course, she and her dad could not clean up after themselves. It was a running joke that since mom had split; cleaning was suddenly much more difficult than it looked.

She shook her head hard. She didn't have parents. This wasn't her house.

Nevertheless, she went upstairs and walked straight to the last room down the hall. It was a small bedroom, cluttered with male clothes and school books. On the shelves and desk were many awards for football and soccer.

She went over to the desk and noticed a photograph. Pulling it up, she stared at it. She recognised the jock, Pete, along with two other people, his mother and father. Both looked very familiar.

She dropped it, breathing very fast. This was his house. The memories in her head were _his_. What was _happening_ to her? She swallowed a sob.

A low and menacing chuckle filled the air. She lifted her head in alarm.

"Hey little girl" the voice whispered. Rouge's skin prickled. "Cry all you want. It's not going to help any."

Rouge felt panic rise. "Who's there?"

The voice began to laugh. "Just me. And a message from ....the X-MEN!" With a roar, a man in an orange and black suit lunged at her, metal glinting from his hands.

Rouge screamed. Her hands found a baseball bat at the side of the bed and without thinking she swung it at the guy as hard as she could. It connected to the guys head and he went crashing into the table. Arms trembling, she raced for the now unblocked door, hearing the man groaning and snarling behind her.

Several doors down, Wolverine stopped, sniffing the air.

"What is it Logan?" Kitty asked, still keeping her distance from Kurt. His appearance unnerved her and she felt uneasy around him. She wished she was with Jean, who she had come to like or Bobby who made her laugh. And who was also really cute. Scott was too, but he was so dour and obviously into Jean that Kitty did not even want to go there. She mentally shook her head to stop pondering such things at such an inappropriate time.

"Yeah" Logan finally growled. His tone made Kitty shiver. He was pretty scary. "Fear."

In Bayville High gymnasium, Bobby was in silent turmoil. He knew his friends were out trying to help and possibly recruit someone new. And instead of being with them, possibly helping, he was out at his basketball game. It was stupid, but he felt guilty for not going. His basketball was important to him and this was a quarter final game. But compared to a mission where a person's very sanity and morality was possibly at stake, insignificant didn't even cover it.

Now Bobby wondered if his old friend Hank was right and he really worried too much. Only Hank would ever say that the pranking, joking extraordinaire worried too much.

Damn he missed Hank.

Growing needlessly worried and gloomy, Bobby ruthlessly shut down his train of thought and changed into his gym shorts. A tingle of regret still lurked about his mind, but he ignored it as he listened to the teams banter. He liked his teammates, but they didn't know him nearly as well as the X-Men. Life defining missions and near death experiences would do that to kids.

"Hey Drake" the star player of the team, Daniels trotted over. He was a decent guy for a school sports star and he and Bobby got on pretty well.

"You missed last practise" Daniels observed.

"Yeah" Bobby winced; Logan had gotten hold of him for an extra long training session. By the time they'd finished, practise had started half an hour before and Bobby hadn't been inclined to move much for the rest of the evening. Practising self defence on a guy partly made of very heavy metal really took it out of you.

"Just watch out for the coach, he was blowing steam" Daniels glanced around. "We got a new player; transfer. Walsh damaged his tendon again, it was last minute."

"Ok" Bobby nodded thanks. Daniel nodded back and moved off as the coach entered. Bobby spent the next few seconds looking contrite as the coach lectured his absenteeism. Finally he let off and Bobby went over to the group. He saw an unpleasantly familiar face in the group, one who was smirking at him. His gut clenched.

_Pietro._

Logan led the teens down a specific path of houses; a bloodhound that had caught a scent. He paused for a moment and then swung to the right. Kurt and Kitty followed his gaze.

A girl around their age was leaning against a garden fence. She was gasping for air and was trembling violently, her face obscured.

"Hey kid" Logan called. He started forward.

The girls head snapped upwards. She stared at Logan and screamed. Before anyone could do anything, she had dived sideways and sprinted off down the road.

"Zhat didn't go well" Kurt observed after a pause.

Logan started down the road after her, but Kurt intercepted him. "Hang on Logan. She vas terrified of you. Kitty and I might have better luck talking to her."

Logan looked at him and Kitty for a second. And then he slowly nodded. "All right elf. But don't to anything stupid."

Kurt nodded, the expression on his holographic face solemn. He turned to Kitty and held out his hand. Kitty hesitated, recoiling slightly. But she took his hand. And with a puff and a whiff of brimstone, they were gone.

Logan stepped back from the smoke and moved off following the girls scent, tracking where she'd been. He came to a stop two blocks away at an ordinary house. He could smell the girls scent. And an old unwelcome scent.

"Mystique."

Kurt had teleported himself and Kitty at regular intervals down the road. They peered into the gardens around them before popping off again. He was pleased she wasn't as skittish around him as she had been during the week. He hoped she would get over it soon; he liked Kitty, she was fun to be around.

They reappeared again down another street. Kurt half tensed, but the streets were very quiet; there was no one out, much to his relief. Well, almost nobody. His sensitive ears picked up something. It sounded like sobbing. Sympathy stirred as he quietly directed Kitty's attention to the source.

Sure enough, it was the girl, huddled in someone's backyard. She was curled up against a large oak tree, shaking. Kurt smiled sadly. It wasn't fun being different. He stopped Kitty as she began to move forward.

"Let me to talk to her" he whispered and then before Kitty could protest, he moved into the backyard. Grumbling, she peered behind the bushes, ready to leap clear through them, just in case.

"Hello" Kurt spoke softly. The girl shot upwards to her feet, as though a gun had gone off. She started to back away, but Kurt started talking, quietly, careful not to spook her.

"It's alright, I don't vish to hurt you. I just vant to talk, is that alright?"

The girl was very tense and she still edged away. She didn't answer.

"My name's Kurt" he introduced himself. "And I know vhat it's like" he teleported a couple of feet to the side, still keeping a distance "to be different."

She gasped in shock and froze. Carefully, Kurt moved forward very slowly, stopping a little away from her.

"Vhat's your name?"

"R-R-Rouge" the girl stammered. Kurt was pleased she had spoken to him. "What-what-are you?" she choked out.

Kurt smiled slightly. "I am a mutant. And so are you. Ve are different from most people, but zhat's because ve have different talents. Ve are not demons or beasts, just a little different."

Rouge snorted. "Yeah right. Ah'm sure we different. How many people have other people's thoughts runnin' around in their head?" she stopped abruptly.

"Is zhat what you can do?" Kurt asked quietly.

Rough wavered. "Ah-Ah-Ah don't know what happened" she whispered. "A dumb ass grabbed mah hand at a party. And he collapsed and Ah suddenly....have all these things runnin' through my head and Ah know they're his." She waved her hands in helpless frustration.

Kurt slowly moved closer and Rouge didn't object. At the bushes Kitty was growing impatient.

"Come on Kurt" she muttered. "She doesn't look that tough." She rubbed her side impatiently it was itching. A faint rustle in the bushes she was peering through made her look up. In the dim lighting of the side lights, she could see a very large and bright green snake, eyes glowing brilliantly in the light.

Kitty didn't even pause to wonder what a snake was doing in the bushes of Mississippi. She screamed. Triggering her power to phase, she raced over to Kurt and Rouge, startling Kurt and terrifying Rouge. Kitty became solid and accidently crashed into Rouge, who fell into Kurt. Both cried out.

Breathless, Kitty pushed herself upright. To her horror, the first thing she saw was Kurt, his face blue and furry. But the thing scaring her was the fact he was lying on the ground and not moving, face blank and eyes closed.

A terrified cry tore her eyes away from Kurt. Rouge was back on her feet. She was staring at Kitty and Kurt, but her eyes were wild and she was shaking violently as she backed away.

Kitty leapt to her feet. "What did you do to him?" she screamed, advancing on the stricken teen. Rouge backed away trembling and with a sudden puff, she disappeared.

Kitty coughed and breathed in the familiar smell that Kurt made when he teleported. Kurt! She ran back over to him, all earlier apprehension gone.

"Kurt? Kurt! Are you ok? Wake up!" she shook his shoulders, but he did not wake or respond.

"Come on Kurt please" she said desperately. What could she do? She couldn't leave Kurt here to find the others, but they didn't know where they were and she had to get help. Kurt was to heavy for her to carry and she might accidently hurt him.

A sudden memory from last week came to her. During one of Scott and Bobby's practises, Bobby had explained all the others powers and abilities. But what stood out now was that Professor Xavier and Jean, being telepaths, could send and receive thoughts from people. Could she contact them? She shut her eyes and thought very hard about the Professor, praying for this to work.

Several blocks away, Xavier Scott and Jean had gotten nowhere. Xavier was beginning to feel frustrated. His telepathy wasn't picking up the new girl and this was confusing and troubling. Jean was the same. He was about to contact Logan when a shrill and panic filled voice bellowed in his head. _Professor? PROFESSOR? Can you hear me?!_

"Ahh Kitty" he exclaimed out loud, attracting Scott and Jean's attention. "Not so loud."

_Sorry, Professor. But you have to help, that girl hurt Kurt I don't know how, but she did and she got his powers and Kurt's not waking up and-_

_Slow down Kitty, _he admonished. Finally, he calmed her down enough for her to fill him in on what happened. A grim realization filled him. He thanked Kitty and told her to stay there and they would get her. He opened his eyes and filled his two students in.

"The girl's got Kurt's powers?" Scott frowned.

"It would explain why I haven't been able to sense her. If her powers involve assuming others traits or thoughts, it's possible she absorbed someone else's when she first manifested and now Kurt's powers."

"So we should search for Kurt's signature" Jean mused.

Xavier nodded. "Jean, you try and locate Rouge. I'll contact Logan and have him pick up Kitty and Kurt."

Jean launched into the sky and Xavier contacted Logan and Storm, who was in the jet, filling them in. He looked at Scott who was frowning.

"We shouldn't have brought Kitty and Kurt" he said.

Xavier sighed.

Finally in Bayville the match was over. Bayville had flattened Massachusetts and there was much celebrations going on. Bobby played along, laughing and cheering like the rest, but keeping a very sharp eye on Pietro. For him, the match couldn't end quickly enough.

It had been a shock seeing him again and not a pleasant one. Pietro acted like he didn't know him and Bobby had had to fight the urge to shift into combat mode and played along. Compared to popular belief, he was no fool. Knowing a full scale fight between a human ice sculpture and a speed freak in front of the entire basketball team would not have been a good idea. So he'd gritted his teeth and he and Pietro had acted like new teammates.

Bobby had kept an eye on Pietro throughout the whole game. He was a good player, but Bobby suspected he used a little of his 'gift' in the game. Not enough to look suspicious, but the feeling remained. He hadn't had time to dwell on it much though, the game had forced him focus. He wished some of his friends were with him to keep an eye on Pietro. At least Bobby had scored the winning basket, the look on Pietro's face was great. He looked ready to pick a fight. And sure enough when the rest of the team had left the changing rooms he sauntered over.

Bobby wasn't afraid of Pietro. And he certainly knew that in a fight, he would be the winner. No what worried Bobby was what Pietro symbolised.

Magneto.

Enemy of the X-Men and Pietro's father. Bobby had battled Magneto before and he knew better than to underestimate him. So if Pietro was here, caution was required. It was more than likely Magneto was in the area too.

"Drake" Pietro simpered sarcastically. Bobby had almost forgotten his aggravatingly whiny voice.

"Pietro" he returned evenly. The hot headed part of him wanted to crack smart ass comments and the sort, but he suppressed it and let the cool headed Iceman take charge. Pietro was cunning in his own way and Bobby kept his guard up.

"Good game" Pietro smirked. "Quite the team player, right?"

Bobby ignored the jibe about him scoring the final basket. "What are you doing here?"

"What? Does some new law prevent mutants not belonging to the X-Men from coming to Bayville?" he inquired condescendingly.

"If your dad had his way we'd be martyrs" Bobby retorted. "Let me rephrase the question; what the _hell_ are you doing here Pietro?"

"Just settling down near some neighbours" he said with a high pitched chuckle. His outline blurred and he suddenly was blocking the exit. Bobby didn't move.

"Let's just say....father's decided that the Brotherhood should reopen" he smirked. "After all, the X-Men are recruiting again, why not?"

"Trying to start a war?" Bobby narrowed his eyes.

"Not yet" he smiled smugly. "Father extends invitations to all X-Men, of course. You and the red head get in free, the others might have to work for it, but"

"Not a chance" Bobby said flatly.

"Still hanging on to all that crap of Xavier's, then? Father thought you'd at least consider it, especially...." he trailed off significantly.

"He thought wrong. As usual" The smirk wavered slightly. "Scram Pietro. I'm not joining and neither are any of my friends. Pull any crap and you'll answer to us."

"Scared Drake. Really scared" Pietro sneered. He backed out the door. "I'll see you at school. Just wait until you meet Father's new recruits." His mocking laughter echoed down the hall.

Rouge gasped convulsively for air. Bewildered she looked around. She was in a cemetery. How had she gotten here? The last thing she remembered was a girl shouting at her, fogged memories....

She gasped. That guy! Kurt! She had been talking to him and had started to relax a little before a girl had started screaming and crashed into her. She had crashed into Kurt and....

She eyes widened in horror. The fog in her mind was his memories. She could see his blue and furry features, his feelings on them. Images of teenagers, his friends swam behind her eyes. The trigger for his power.

Out of a hesitant curiosity, she triggered his power. She dimly heard a small pop. For the briefest instant, she was immersed in bluish fog. Then she was standing about ten feet away from where she'd been a second ago.

She let out a small giggle. His power was cool. Compared to hers. A small feeling of playfulness welled up in her and she began to teleport around the cemetery.

"Having fun?" a soft female voice inquired when she reappeared. Rouge froze. That voice was familiar. Not to her. But to Kurt.

She turned slowly. A stunning redhead was walking over to her. She swallowed. Memories from Kurt were invading her thoughts, what he thought of the girl in front of him, the girl's friends, where they lived.....

"You-you're Jean" she stated.

"Get that from my friend did you?" closer up, Jean's face was cold. "The one you drained memories and energy from, thief?"

Rouge flinched. "Ah-Ah'm sorry, Ah didn't mean to..."

"You knew that touching someone did that to them" Jean hissed and Rouge recoiled. "That boy at the party? That's what happened to him and now he's in the hospital. But you did that to my friend-and now you're going to pay." An evil smile danced across her face as Jean started forward.

Rouge felt fear rise up in her. She couldn't comprehend Kurt's memories as well as before, but she knew this girl had powers too-and they were bad to get on the wrong side of. She bolted away. She heard Jean laugh and something shatter behind her. She ran faster.

Going around a corner, she skidded to a stop to avoid colliding with a tall and beautiful black woman with unusual pure white hair.

"So you're the thief" a cruel smile played across her face and she started towards Rouge. Desperate she whirled and raced away in the opposite direction. She had gone halfway down another road before forcing to stop again as a tall and good-looking guy stepped out of the shadows, eyes hidden by red shades.

"You should never mess with the X-Men" he started towards her. Panic fuelling her, she darted around him and tore off, her breath searing in her throat. What did these people want with her?

The guy smirked and his body began to ripple, changing shape and size. Something barrelled into it, sending it sprawling to the ground.

"Well hello Mystique" Logan snarled, claws popping out.

Mystique looked annoyed as she returned to her normal form. But her face turned to triumph and she shifted into an eagle. With powerful wings she evaded Logan's swipe and soared into the night sky.

Logan swore and kicked the pavement. He started to move.

"Don't Logan."

Logan turned to see the Professor, Jean and Scott moving quickly to him.

"Mystique got to the kid. Masqueraded as us" he snarled.

"I know" Xavier looked downcast. " I caught her mind signature, but it was too late. She's gotten much better at shielding her mind. The damage has been done. She's succeeded in stopping us from talking to Rouge. Mystique undoubtedly has something of interest in her and did not want us to interfere. Rouge now believes us to be her enemies."

"That" Scott trailed off, clearly seething.

"Where's the elf and Kitty?"

"On the jet. Rouge accidently touched Kurt and knocked him out. He'll be alright. There's also a slight chance the memories Rouge took from him might help show our side of the story. However, I don't now the full nature of her powers to be sure."

"This didn't go well" Scott sighed, thoroughly aggrieved.

Xavier's lips quirked, though there was no humour in the gesture. "Wait. Bobby contacted me. He has bad news for us when we get back."

"What? Did they lose the match?" Scott rolled his eyes.

Rouge kept running. She didn't dare look back. She just ran as fast as she could back to her house. Flying up the drive and flinging open and shut the door she threw herself at her guardian and allowed herself to cry. Her guardian didn't even question it, just let her cry. After a while, Rouge lifted her head and became aware of another person in the room.

"This" Destiny announced " is my old friend Harriet Darkholme."

A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long. It only take a couple of days to write if I work on it, but I get so easily distracted, it's ridiculous. Hope you liked it.


	5. Chapter 5

There was a definite feeling of gloom in Xavier's kitchen the next morning. Having lost a recruit's trust and the knowledge Magneto was recruiting again left the older X-Men and students apprehensive. Kitty and Kurt were also subdued from the disastrous night and the others attitudes. They knew a little about Magneto and his relationship to the X-Men, mainly that he was there enemy. Kitty was convinced the others weren't telling them everything, but they didn't press the matter. The only good thing about last night was that Kitty and Kurt had become fast friends.

About to follow the two to the garage, Bobby paused at the door and looked at the others.

"We should tell them" he said quietly but firmly. Xavier looked at him, as did the rest.

"It is too early Bobby" Xavier said just as firmly. "Not yet."

Bobby sighed and headed for the door. Jean hurriedly scraped her bowl clean and followed, Scott after her.

"I'm with Bobby Chuck" Logan chipped in unexpectedly. "The kids deserve to know. 'Sides keeping secrets won't help them_. Any_ of them" he stressed the last part.

"It is too early Logan" Xavier repeated.

Logan shrugged. "I'll keep my mouth shut for the moment Charles. But you're going to have to tell the elf and Half-Pint soon. They know something's up. And Ice-Cube's not going to keep quiet for long. He doesn't like keeping 'em in the dark either."

Xavier sighed.

"Charles is doing what he thinks is best" Storm put in regally. "I do not like telling them either, but Kitty and Kurt could react badly if they found out the truth."

Logan shrugged again, clearly not agreeing. "Like I said, I'll keep my mouth shut."

"I found another signature this morning" Xavier opened his eyes. "The moral among the students is a little low and I'd rather not have them miss school again. I'd like it if you both could investigate."

"Of course Charles" Ororo nodded. Logan looked vaguely interested.

"And if you spot Magnus or Mystique, I'd rather you avoid confrontation if possible" Xavier added. Logan scowled.

At Bayville High, the X-Men plied out of Scott's car. Space was a little tight with Bobby's little car currently undergoing tune-ups from Logan and Bobby.

"Five, four, three, two..." Bobby muttered under his breath.

"Hey Jean!" Duncan waved from the other side of the parking lot. Jean grabbed her bag, called a goodbye to her friends and joined Duncan and the 'cool' people.

"And she's away" Bobby sighed melodramatically. Kitty giggled. Scott however, scowled and ushered the others away.

Kitty and Kurt waved hurriedly goodbye to Bobby and Scott; the first bell had rung. Bobby went over to his locker and shoved his books into his bag. Scott grabbed his arm just before he went off. Bobby looked at him in confusion.

"Remember Bobby. You can't tell them."

Bobby scowled. "I heard the first fifty times" yanking his arm free. "Doesn't' mean I like it." He walked off, leaving Scott on his own. Sighing, Scott turned his attention to his own locker. Bobby knew full well he wasn't to tell them. But Bobby wasn't always known to follow rules.

Becoming aggravated, Bobby slid into his English class, just before the bell. He flopped onto his seat near the back of the class and pulled out his books as the rest of his class trooped in. He felt glad for the first time, he was on his own for most of his classes. Though he was around the age of Kitty and Kurt, actually a little younger than Kurt, he was a junior, while they were sophomores. Having been taught by Xavier at the mansion at the same levels as Scott, Jean and Warren meant he should have been in the senior year. However, being over two years younger meant that he was to remain a year behind, though he had a lot of senior classes, but rarely had classes the same time as Scott or Jean.

The late bell rang and Bobby's English teacher, Mr. Burke entered, quelling idle chatter.

"That'll do" he said unnecessarily. "Alright, you had a week to do your compositions on _A Midsummer's Night_, hand them up now please. Today we are going to start another of Shakespeare's works, _King Lear_."

Bobby handed up his homework, silently thanking Hank for his odd traits. His obsession with literature had made him, Bobby, learn quite a bit on supposed works of art of literature, enough to let him pass by quite easily in the subject. Though he'd never be caught reciting most of the texts as though he'd swallowed them.

"Oh, I almost forgot" he added, glancing apologetically at the door. Following his gaze, Bobby saw a pretty gothic girl around his age, waiting at the door, Principle Darkholme behind her.

"We have a new student, Rouge Darkholme" murmurs skittered through the room about the girl's surname. She walked into the room, ignoring the looks she was getting. The Principal nodded curtly to Mr. Burke, and gave Bobby a look, who was still standing in front of Mr. Burke's desk, holding out his homework. She left, closing the door firmly.

"Well Miss Darkholme, you'll need to catch up on the work you've missed" Mr. Burke blinked apparently having forgotten Bobby was standing in front of him. "Ah yes, Mr. Drake, if you would be so kind as to bring Miss Darkholme up to speed on notes and I'll pair you together for the _King Lear_ project we shall be doing for the next two weeks."

A loud groan resounded through the classroom. Bobby sighed and looked over at his new charge. She looked back at him stonily.

*

Kitty hovered impatiently beside Kurt while he wrestled with his locker. Grinning, Kitty pushed her hand through the metal and withdrew, his physics book in her hand.

"Thanks, Kitty" Kurt said gratefully, stowing the book in his bag.

"No problem" Kitty replied. It surprised her how easy it was to talk to him and she felt bad for acting the way she had around him earlier. She glanced around instinctively for the older X-Men. "Where is everyone?"

"Jean spends most of her time vith zhe jocks in school" Kurt shrugged. "Scott and Bobby normally hang around with us at break and lunch, but zhey don't really have classes' vith us."

"I can't believe we get homework in the mansion" Kitty mused.

"Bobby says they always got homework from zhe Professor. Zhat's vhy he's a year ahead of us because he learned on zhe same level as Jean and Scott."

"You know they're hiding something, right?" Kitty asked quietly.

Kurt paused and glanced around at the milling students going to class. "Yeah" he said softly. "I know. I talked to Bobby."

"What did he say?" Kitty looked at him in surprise.

"Nothing much" he admitted. "I think he vanted to, he hinted that. But he said zhe Professor vould tell us eventually. And if he didn't, he'd tell us himself."

Kitty whistled softly. "That it?"

"Vell I got zhe impression Bobby vasn't happy vith zhe others and the others weren't happy about vhat happened vith Alvers" Kitty grimaced "and Rouge. I tried to talk to Scott first." Now Kurt grimaced. "Zhat didn't go vell."

"No" Kitty frowned thoughtfully. "I tried Jean too, but she wouldn't give me a straight answer. Just vague things. It's funny. Why are they so worried?"

Kurt wasn't paying attention anymore, he had stopped suddenly, staring ahead. "Kitty" he said slowly. "Look over at the chem. lab."

Puzzled, Kitty followed his gaze. Her eyes widened in shock and her mouth fell open. At the door of the chem. lab, was the girl from last night.

And beside her chatting away as they went in, was Bobby.

*

Logan grumbled as he stretched his cramped back. Ororo chuckled lightly and Logan scowled good-naturedly. They moved out into the dusty streets of Texas, moving towards the co-ordinates Xavier had given them. This new one was a boy, a Fred Dukes. However, the minute Logan stepped off the plane, his senses stirred.

Frowning, he swung around, sniffing the air. Ororo frowned and looked around. She grabbed Logan's arm and pulled him aside into an alley.

Just going past them was a tall and shapely built woman. Just behind her was an enormous teenage boy, nearly twice the size of Logan and easily three times as wide, munching on some popcorn as he trailed behind the woman.

"That is Fred" Ororo murmured.

"Yeah" Logan growled. "And _that_ is Mystique."

Ororo's expression blanched. "The woman? Logan I recognise her. She's the Principal in Bayville High."

"That explains why One-Eye and Ice-Cube occur her wrath often enough." Logan rose to follow the two, but Ororo stopped him.

"We are not to engage Logan" she said sternly.

"Come on, Ro, you're telling me you're gonna stand here and let the Brotherhood get another member?"

"I do not like it" Ororo conceded. "But engaging in a battle now could turn the boy against us and we don't know the nature of his powers."

Logan growled, but Ororo looked at him unmoving.

"We need to talk to Charles" she said firmly and moved off. Logan stayed where he was.

"Logan, return to the jet, or I shall summon a hurricane and make you."

Logan sighed and trudged after her.

*

Scott bit into his sandwich, keeping an eye out for his friends. Unlike Jean or Bobby, he didn't have many friends outside the mansion. Jean normally had lunch with the 'cool' crowd-he scowled-and Bobby normally ate with him. But he'd passed Iceman in the corridors, and said he couldn't make it, he was having lunch with a new girl who he had to bring up to speed on a whole semesters worth of work. He grimaced sympathetically. From his facial expression, Bobby was encountering problems.

So here Scott sat in the cafeteria, alone at a table, trying hard not to look over at Jean and Duncan, and hoping Kitty and Kurt would come in. The younger two were nice, though he'd been right about Bobby and having allies in which to ambush him. He hoped they wouldn't bring up the fact they others were hiding something from them.

God, life was just conspiring against him.

The cafeteria doors burst open and Kitty and Kurt came in. Scott could tell instantly something was wrong. Their faces were strained. Kurt came over to Scott while Kitty went over to the cool clique where Jean sat.

"What's wrong?" Scott asked in undertone.

"Have you seen Bobby?" Kurt asked quickly.

"No" Scott felt himself tense. "I saw him in the halls earlier; he said he was tutoring a new student during lunch."

The look on Kurt's holographic face was grim. "Scott, Kitty and I saw him earlier. He vas talking to zhe girl from last night."

Alarm stirred in him and he stood up. Over at the cool table, he saw Jean say something to a puzzled Duncan and stand up. She glanced his way and their eyes met.

*

"If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge? The villainy you have taught me, I shall execute, but it will go hard and I shall better the instruction."

_A/N: ahhh, the sweet satisfaction of remembering part of a play I learned two years ago. I still remember bits of it!_

Bobby looked at Rouge expectantly. She arched an eyebrow at him and dimly, he felt his smile fade.

"Oh noooo" he groaned. "I'm turning into Hank." He banged his head against the table in frustration.

They were sitting outside on a table and bench under the warm sun. Others were sitting on the grass or other benches, but they sat near the trees, virtually unnoticed.

"Hank?" Rouge inquired.

"My best friend" he mumbled. "You know the type; an absolute genius that learns entire plays just for fun."

"Sounds like he rubbed off on ya" she grinned slightly as Bobby groaned again.

"So this is....?"

"_The Merchant of Venice_" Bobby pulled himself together. "It's what the bad guy, Shylock, says to the good guy's friends. To be fair, the terms good guy and bad guy don't really apply in this play."

"Really? How so?" she raised her eyebrow again. Bit by bit, the Southern girl had loosened up and actually started talking back to Bobby's ramblings.

"Yeah" Bobby nodded. "In the play, the 'good' guy, Antonio, wants to loan money to his friend Bassanio, to woo the lovely Portia."

Rouge snorted. Bobby grinned. "Anyway, Antonio's fortune is tied up in his ships at sea. So, they go to this man Shylock, a Jew, to borrow money from him, using the ships as collateral."

Rouge frowned. "Well that's stupid. What if something happens to them?"

"Exactly" Bobby nodded. "All of his ships were lost to the sea. Now he's in debt to Shylock, who hates him by the way. Antonio's a Christian and he despises Shylock. Part of the deal was that if Antonio couldn't pay, Shylock would take one pound of Antonio's flesh."

Rouge looked disgusted. "And why would he do that?"

Bobby shrugged. "To bait fish withal, if nothing else it will feed my revenge" he said dramatically. "Shylock had been looked down upon by Antonio and his friends, it was time for payback. He hated Antonio and dragged him to court for his flesh. There Portia, Bassanio's wife to be, disguises herself as a man and uses the law against Shylock and outwits him, leaving him with nothing. The Christians win, the Jew lost and everyone is happy." He grimaced.

"I personally feel bad for Shylock" he confessed. "He wasn't a very nice guy, but he was disgraced and humiliated by Antonio, the supposed 'good guy'. And he tried to get revenge." He shrugged. "Discrimination in its finest. The Christians hated the Jews and were delighted that the evil Jew was brought down. Just shows discrimination is an evil thing, personally."

Rouge nodded, her face thoughtful. Bobby handed her notes on _The Merchant of Venice _and pulled out the next one. "Alright, _A Midsummer's Night-"_

A sudden 'bamph' startled the pair of them. Bobby leapt to feet, coughing at the sudden brimstone smoke that had appeared, along with Kurt and Jean.

"Guys what the hell are you doing?" he demanded, astonished. He turned to Rouge, who was staring at Kurt and Jean with a puzzling expression of recognition and fear.

Sudden suspicion stirred in his mind. Rouge and her gothic attire and the fact she had turned up today-

"Listen Rouge-" Jean began, but was cut off. Rouge swung around to face Bobby her eyes blazing. "You're one of them!" she exclaimed backing away from them. "Stay away from me!" seizing her bag and books, she ran off.

"Wait!" Bobby shouted after her, but it was too late, she was gone. He swung around to his friends.

"Did you have to scare her off? I have an English project to do with her!"

*

Bobby gloomily pulled his books out of his locker. School was finally over; it had felt like an eternity had passed since lunch. After he, Scott and Jean had finally fully briefed each other on Rouge, he had tried to talk to her, but no such luck; she avoided him throughout the day. Bobby knew full well that they would have contact through school, they were in too many classes to avoid each other and they still had that stupid English project to do together. He wondered ruefully how they were supposed to work on King Lear when she was fully convinced the X-Men were trying to kill her.

Kurt hovered beside him as he finally slammed his locker shut. "How did it go vith Rouge?"

"It didn't" Bobby sighed. "We're going to have to talk to each other, but..." he trailed off. "Ah well, school's going to be interesting for a while anyway."

Kurt chuckled sympathetically. Together they walked down the hall to Kitty and Jean's lockers, where the two stood waiting for them.

"Where's Cyke?" Bobby asked.

"Talking to Mr. Bullman" Jean smiled wryly. "I think he didn't do so well in his last physics test."

Two minutes later Scott came over, his face carefully neutral. Bobby and Jean grinned at each other; he didn't do very well.

"Let's go then" Scott said without preamble, leading them out of the now deserted hall.

"How did physics go Scott?" Kitty asked slyly.

Scott grunted.

"Hank'd be devastated Slim" Bobby said sorrowfully. Jean laughed. Kitty looked puzzled.

"Who's Hank?" she asked quizzically. Scott, Jean and Bobby exchanged glances.

"Old friend" Jean put in. Bobby said nothing. Kurt and Kitty glanced at each other.

"Guys what-"

"Well, well" a snide voice in front of them made them stop. "If it isn't the X-Men."

"Who's there?" Scott said sharply, shifting his stance slightly. Bobby, Kurt Jean and Kitty moved to flank him.

"Now that's not nice" the sneering face of Pietro moved into view from the shadows of the trees.

"X-Men" he smirked at the teens in front of him "I'd like to meet the new Brotherhood."

Several people shifted and came into view.

Lance Alvers stood scowling, arms folded, wearing scruffy denim. Kitty tensed.

Beside him, about a head shorter, was Todd Tolansky, hunch backed and dirty, looking at the X-Men nervously.

On the other side was an enormous teenager, tall and very fat, with a buzz cut. He leered at Kitty and Jean.

Finally, standing a little off from the rest of them was Rouge. Her arms were folded and she half stood in the shadow of the big guy, avoiding the X-Men's' eyes.

"We're not here for a fight" Pietro smirked. "Just giving a friendly warning. You're not the only mutants in town." He laughed and waved a hand in their direction. "We'll see you all soon."

Scott growled as the group turned and left. Bobby and Kurt glanced at each other, uneasy.

"This isn't good" Jean murmured. She massaged her temples; her head throbbing from the intense dislike pouring from both groups.

Scott sighed and forcibly made himself move."Come on. We have to tell the Professor."

A/N: ok, what d'you think? Not sure how long this fic will be, I now the direction it's going just not the length of it. Oh and in case you're wondering, this'll probably be a Rouge/Bobby friendship fic in the end, along with the eventual pairing of Scott and Jean, I think.

Oh and just in case

I do not own the play the Merchant of Venice, I used its characters and plot purely for entertainment and intellectual purposes-just in case no one figured that out.


	6. Chapter 6

Kitty walked down the streets of Bayville, Kurt beside her. After the end of an incredibly confusing week, she was keen to get out of the mansion. Kurt whole-heartedly agreed and they had set out together. The others were busy; Scott was now up-tuning his little red convertible, Jean was shopping with the cool crowd, something Kitty was somewhat a part of, but wasn't comfortable in. Bobby had homework to finish; he had had to leave it during the week because of basketball and Danger Room training. Xavier was out, Logan had gone for a ride on his bike and Ororo was taking care of her greenhouse. Kitty was frankly relieved and somewhat aggrieved. The others still weren't telling her or Kurt anything and it rankled her innate curiosity.

She knew that Pietro was the son of a man named Magnus, also known as Magneto. A mutant like them, he believed ordinary humans were monsters and they and mutants could not live together in peace. They should not have to hide their talents from society because of fear of persecution but should rise and take the head of society. The Brotherhood was his group of followers, all ready to fight with Magneto to secure mutants superiority over ordinary people.

The thought of Magneto's world made her skin crawl. She knew that people would be terrified of mutants if they knew they existed. Terrified and would probably try to drive them out. And against mutants, they would probably have no chance. And the idea of ordinary people, like her parents-she shuddered-being the ones driven away didn't bear thinking about.

But it didn't explain what the others weren't telling her or Kurt. She growled, making Kurt jump.

"Vow, you really are a cat" he joked.

"I want to know what's going on" she muttered; her musings had put her in a bad mood.

"Cheer up, Kitty they'll tell us soon" he patted her shoulder complacently.

"But I want to know" she made a face. The secrets were practically shouting at her, tempting her.

"Ve left zhe mansion to forget about things" he reminded her. "I don't like it either, but I know zhey'll tell us. Ve just have to wait –and trust them."

Kitty sighed. Kurt smiled at her sympathetically and then looked around.

"Vhy don't ve get some ice-cream?" he suggested. He tugged her forwards.

"But I don't want ice-cream" she moaned half-heartedly. "I like my figure the way it is."

"You're too skinny" he informed her as they cut across Bayville Park towards Main Street.

Kitty was about to reply when a low chuckle resonated from behind a tree near them. They paused uncertainly as someone stepped out in front of them, in the trees shadows.

"Who are you?" Kitty asked, uneasily aware that she and Kurt were the only ones nearby. She shifted her stance. Was it someone from the Brotherhood?

Then the person came into view and Kitty felt her mouth drop.

Bobby sat cross legged on his bed, homework strewn around him. He grimaced and stretched, vertebrae popping loudly. It was incredibly irritating. He was a teenager, having to deal with all the problems and hardships of adolescence, hormones going crazy and the body changing. And to add to that, he had to deal with managing the power to plunge everything around him into an ice age, and saving the world from madmen determined to destroy some part of society. And he still had to do homework! Life just wasn't fair.

He rubbed his abdomen absently, then sighed and picked up his English textbook. It was going to be mighty difficult to persuade Rouge to talk to him, now that she discovered he was 'one of them'. But he had to. Not only because of class but it might help Rouge realise the X-Men were not her enemies. At least that's what he hoped.

He had just picked up a highlighter and was about to flick through his book for something useful when there was a knock on his door. "Come in" he called, glancing up just as the door burst open.

"Hey guys" Bobby said, startled by their presence and somewhat breathless attire. "What's going on? I thought you were out."

The two exchanged looks. Bobby felt concern seep through him. Something was wrong. Kurt shut the door quietly while Kitty approached the bed, her face set.

"Bobby, what's going on?"

Bobby looked from Kitty to Kurt and sighed inwardly. Damn Xavier. It wasn't something he said often, but when he did, it was never good.

"Look guys I already told you, I can't-"

"Bull" Kitty said, startling Bobby. She looked tense.

"Ooh is Emma Frost, Bobby?" Kurt asked quietly.

Bobby couldn't help but flinch. _Her_.

"How do you know her?" he asked sharply.

Kitty and Kurt glanced at each other.

*

"_Who are you?" Kitty asked, uneasily aware that she and Kurt were the only ones nearby. She shifted her stance. Was it someone from the Brotherhood?_

_Then the person came into view and Kitty felt her mouth drop._

_The person was a woman. A stunning woman, with long blonde hair, ice cold eyes and an intent expression on her face. She wore a curious and very daring strapless white leather dress and white boots up to her knees. A fine cloth coat swirled around her as she stood. Kitty found herself wondering how the hell she could stand wearing such garments in the autumn heat. _

_She flicked a glance to Kurt. He was staring at the woman too, but Kitty had a feeling he was still ogling the woman. Men. She turned to the woman, who was smirking and felt her temper stir._

"_Who are you?" she repeated, placing her hands on her hips._

_The woman's face curled into a cold smile._

"_The old fool hasn't told you much, has he?" she said. Her voice was cool and Kitty felt herself tense. She had a feeling she wouldn't like this woman._

"_Vhat are you talking about?" Kurt asked, apparently recovered from the woman's stunning figure and features._

"_The senile fool. How he expects to run his precious X-Men with ignorant children such as you?" her eyes raked the two teens._

_Kitty felt her blood run cold. How did she know the X-Men? Beside her, she felt Kurt tense._

"_Ve don't know vhat you're talking about" he said curtly. (No pun intended) "Let's go Kitty."_

_The woman merely laughed, amused._

"_He thinks by not telling you that you'll be safe?" she smirked. "Xavier is so naive."_

_Kitty paused. The woman knew the Professor and the X-Men. Was she one of them? The woman smirked at her and she had an unpleasant feeling she knew what she was thinking._

"_To further your education" she smiled coldly "I am Emma Frost. The leader of the Hellions."_

_Kitty's brows went up. What were the Hellions?_

'_Emma' chuckled. "Xavier is a fool. Always has been." Her face clouded._

"_Ask Robert" she said coolly, turning away. "He'll tell you what you want to know. And pass him a message for Xavier. The Hellions are reopening also."_

_And with that, she was gone. Kitty blinked and cursed herself for not stopping her. She turned to Kurt._

"_What was that all about?"_

"_Come on" he grabbed her hand. "Ve need to talk to Bobby." _

*

There was silence in Bobby's bedroom. Bobby absorbed everything Kitty and Kurt said, feeling grim. Kitty was perched on his desk while Kurt sat on his chair, resting his head on his arms propped up by the chairs back. Both were watching him.

Bobby sighed and ran a hand through his hair, sending it in disarray. This complicated things.

"Look" he began, but Kitty interrupted.

"No, you look Bobby" her voice quiet but firm. "We need to know what's going on. We know you and everyone else is keeping something secret."

"She is right man" Kurt said quietly. "Ve don't know vhat's going on. Vith people like zhis around, ve don't know ooh's friendly or not. Ve could valk right into something vithout even knowing vhat's happening."

Bobby's conscious stirred and he sighed. Damn, Kurt was right. Hell, he knew keeping them in the dark was a bad idea. They had to know what was going on, for their own safety. Bobby didn't like keeping secrets from people he trusted. And in this case, Kitty and Kurt not knowing could prove deadly to them both.

Mind made up, he rose and walked over to his desk. Kitty hopped off and sat on the bed. Kurt followed her.

On his desk, he pulled up a small framed photo. Without looking at the occupants of the picture, he silently handed it over to Kitty, Kurt looking over her shoulder.

It was a picture with eight people, almost all of whom they recognised. Though a couple of years younger, instantly recognisable were the Professor, Ororo, Logan, Scott, Jean, Bobby and two other teenagers they didn't recognise. All were standing in the mansions sitting room. Almost all of them were grinning; Logan scowling a little less than normal.

"So this is....?" Kitty asked.

"The original X-Men" Bobby said. He peered into the photo. "The two you won't recognise are Hank McCoy, beside me and Warren Worthington, beside Jeannie."

"Hank's your best friend, right?" Kitty asked for clarification. Bobby nodded.

"Yeah" he said quietly. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"History time" he said finally. He took the photo back.

"I joined the original X-Men when I was fourteen. It had just opened. The Professor had persuaded Ororo and Logan to create a school for mutants, us. We would be educated like ordinary students, but learn to control our powers and use them for good things. We were going to try and create a world where mutants and humans could co-exist peacefully." He grimaced. "Obviously that hasn't happened yet as most of the world doesn't know we exist. That was another thing, we would be safe from any persecution for things we couldn't control and be punished for what we are."

"So what...?" Kitty began, but Bobby silenced her with a look.

"You need to here it from the start." Kitty went quiet. If things were being explained, she didn't want to have them stopped.

"Mutant life is on the rise" Bobby continued. "The world is going to find out about us soon enough. But of course, people aren't stupid. Those that figure out their powers obviously have a couple of options. One, they can keep it to themselves. Two, they can use it for their own personal gain, regardless of consequence. And three, mutants, normally older ones, can seek out other mutants and form a group, if for protection or for gain again."

"Like zhe Professor." Kurt mused. "And Magneto?"

Bobby nodded. "For different reasons of course. Xavier wants to prove humans and mutants can exist together peacefully. But ignorance is bliss as they say. It's easier for the moment that the rest of the world doesn't know, at least for now."

"But do people know?" Kitty asked. "Like the government or something?"

"Some sections of the government, definitely" Bobby nodded again. "Behind the curtain stuff. Logan knows it better than anyone but _don't_ bring it up. Black ops and things are well aware of certain people's 'gifts'. And of course as the rest of the world doesn't know about us, it makes it very easy for them to 'experiment'."

Kurt and Kitty looked horrified.

"Zhat's- zhat's" Kurt spluttered.

"Sickening" Bobby grimaced again. "A good reason for groups. Stick as a pack rather than on your own; it's less likely to happen."

"But of course stuff like that's ammunition for groups like Magneto. 'Look at what humanity does to things they cannot understand. We are the future not them. They have no right. They no longer matter."

"But" Kitty began, looking furious, but Bobby held up a hand.

"It's twisted, but its Magneto. In fairness, he has good reason to hate and distrust humans. But not all humans are evil and we all should know that."

"Anyway, I'm getting off track. Xavier and Magneto were once good friends, but they parted ways when their ideals became too hard to ignore anymore. So the Professor created the X-Men and Magneto created the Brotherhood of Mutants.

"Scott, Warren, Hank, Jean and I were the first X-Men. I was the youngest and Hank the oldest, he was nearly twenty when we formed. We did more or less what we do now; study, train, and hang out. Xavier encouraged us; teamwork worked best when you know and understand your teammates. There were problems, sure, conflicts, but we soon all became good friends."

Bobby paused. Kurt cocked his head at him; he had turned off his holo-imager and his tail swished through the air.

"So what happened?" Kitty asked.

"Nothing at first" Bobby said finally. "We had a few small skirmishes with the Brotherhood; mostly breaking them off from abusing their powers on ordinary people. Magneto settled nearby about a town over; why I don't know, but probably to keep tabs on us. No, things flared up when another mutant group made itself known."

"Another one?" Kurt asked, surprised.

Kitty's eye widened. "The Hellions?"

"Yep. They were based in New York. Xavier being the guy he is could pick up the signatures and we would head off. They're kind of in between us and Magneto; they prefer to keep to themselves. They don't care about things that bother the outside world, but if anyone annoyed them, they'd regret it. Emma Frost was their leader."

"The woman we saw today" Kitty mused.

"Let me guess" Bobby said wryly. "She was wearing very tight white leather, exposing a fair bit of skin, her hair and face were immaculate and she was pretty much a snob?"

"In a nutshell" Kitty frowned.

"Typical" Bobby muttered under his breath.

"Anyway, with three powerful mutant groups around, things were pretty tense. There'd be small clashes, getting nastier each time and telepaths on all sides had their work cut out making people forget what they saw."

"Zhey have telepaths too?"

"Yeah, Magneto's got an old guy Mastermind and Frost's a powerful telepath. You don't want to get on the wrong side of her." He shuddered.

"So what happened?" Kitty asked.

"In the end, it had nothing to do with us. Remember what I said about black ops and stuff? Well that kind of intervened. We didn't know it at the time, but a high ranking black op lunatic had been studying mutants for most of his life. He hated us. His son had been one and he'd spent his whole life trying to solve the 'mutant problem'." He smiled bitterly.

"Who was he?" Kitty said quietly.

"Technically there were two, but we only ever found out the main guy. His name was Stryker. William Stryker."

"Vhat happened?" Kurt said quietly.

"He tracked down mutants. We, the Brotherhood and the Hellions all lost a member of out teams. To this day we don't know for sure how, or why he took one member each in broad daylight. Xavier thinks he had equipment that could detect mutant signatures, like Cerebro and took those that were alone at the time."

"And?" Kitty whispered.

"The Professor tracked down Warren-he was the one that had been taken from us. We were scoping the area when Xavier detected the signatures of the Brotherhood and the Hellions. We agreed to a truce so that we could rescue our comrades.

"To cut the long story short, we were detected soon enough. Some of us banded together to fight the forces at the base, while the others went to free our friends and to retrieve as much information from the base as possible.

"I was with Logan and several people from the Brotherhood and Hellions, trying to free our friends." In his minds eye, he could see the long metal corridor, running as fast as possible, noise and violent shaking terrifying him, but refusing to acknowledging it. "The others code-names were Thunderbird and Jetstream-Hellions and Colossus-Brotherhood. Their teammates missing were Empath, a Hellion and the Scarlet Witch, Brotherhood and Magneto's daughter." Kitty gasped.

"Anyway thanks to Logan's trusty nose, we found them." He swallowed. "All of them were pretty out of it, high and drugs and some hardware that confused and terrified the brain and some sort power dampeners. They weren't the only ones; there were about seven other mutants we'd never seen before. Warren wasn't there. Logan ran off to find him; I wanted to go, but he made me stay and help those still there. They were all tied down in big cages." He closed his eyes.

"Keep going" Kitty voice was quivering.

He sighed. "We were pulling them out of the cages and pulling off all the machines off them. Turned out to be a big mistake."

"Vhy? Vhat happened?" Kurt said urgently.

"Even though the machines were off them, the effects were still there. Empath was groggy and terrified. He accidently projected his power and we all felt what he felt; his own terror and confusion and all of the emotions around him in the base."

"And?" Kitty whispered.

"It pushed the Scarlet Witch completely over the edge. She had never been a particularly stable one; her control and mental health were pretty slim, to be honest. The effects of what Stryker had done to her and Empath's power drove her completely mad. And" he trailed off.

Kitty and Kurt were staring at him on tenterhooks, practically begging him to continue.

"She lost it. Her power was always pretty unstable. Basically it was pure power that let her change the world around her. This came out in an enormous blast of sheer energy."

He looked at his two friends. There mouths were hanging open. He couldn't just end there.

"I don't know exactly what happened" Bobby continued. "But they told me later. She destroyed the entire section of the base we had been in, literally crushing everything around her. And....." he closed her eyes.

"She killed almost everyone around her."

Silence reigned. Bobby didn't dare open his eyes. Maybe Xavier was right, maybe they shouldn't know. A touch on his arm made him look up.

Kitty had reached out and grabbed his arm. Her eyes were shocked and horrified. Kurt had a similar look but he too moved forward.

"How did you survive?" Kitty whispered.

"My power" he said simply. "I was in my ice form when it happened. I was pretty bad, but my powers worked unconsciously and managed to keep me alive. But they were badly strained and they couldn't manage to keep me completely unharmed or even try when I turned back into human form. The only other person that survived was Colossus. He can turn into living metal. His power managed to save him too, but again just barely."

"I don't remember anything else after that. I woke up-a month later."

"What?!" Kitty exclaimed in shock. "You were that bad?"

He snorted. "No. Just an unforeseen event put my recovery back a few weeks."

"Vhat?"

"Emma" he sighed. "She'd got caught in the backlash and was knocked out too. She didn't wake up for a couple of days. When she woke up, her body was still very weak but her mind wasn't-just disoriented.

"She was afraid for her students. She couldn't sense them. But she couldn't get out and find out. So she did the next best thing-she transferred her consciousness into my body."

"Vhat zhe hell?" Kurt swore in astonishment.

Bobby grinned wryly. "Telepaths can be a pain. Anyway, my mind and body were completely out of it, but my powers weren't. Somehow she managed to tap into my power completely and heal my body. I was basically a robot and she was behind the controls and used my body and powers to escape the mansion-very easily." He shook his head. "I was out through all this, but the others tracked Emma down and the Professor managed to calm Emma down. For an Ice Queen, she did care for her students."

Kurt and Kitty just sat there, obviously thinking.

"Anyway, after that, the mutant groups kind of drifted apart. The Hellions lost most of its members, Magneto's daughter-she survived-was a wreck and though we didn't lose anyone, Xavier shut the school down." He swallowed. "Warren came very close to losing his wings; that's why he was separated from the others at the time. He needed time to think things through and so went off back into normal life. Hank was affected too. The things he had seen, his own issues, he decided to move on and work in genetics and science based stuff. The Professor felt guilty about what had happened and decided to shut the school down to new members. Scott, Jean and I decided to stay and as you know the Professor only recently decided to reopen the school."

He played with his photo while he deliberated his next choice of words.

"That's it really" he said at last. "You were going to be told eventually, I know, but I've never felt comfortable keeping secrets. Xavier was worried that if you had found out the past you'd be scared and back out. That sort of stuff was unusual but with the way of the world, there's no guarantee it won't happen again. The Professor wanted to keep you guys safe and train you before telling you the full story and let you guys decide whether or not you wanted to stay or not. The choice is still on the cards." He looked at the two.

Kitty was apparently mulling her thoughts. Kurt was staring into space, his tail twitching.

"I understand" he said finally. "He vas afraid zhat ve vould let zhat influence us and out of fear, leave. I can see vhere he comes from, I do. But if such things are happening, I believe ve should fight zhem. I like it here; like being accepted for vhat I truly am and not feared. I vill stay and if such things happen" he shrugged and then grinned slightly, showing pointed canines "I vill do vhat I think is right."

"I agree" Kitty said simply, eyes flashing with determination and she straightened her shoulders in pride. Bobby smiled at them, feeling better now that things between the groups had been sorted.

"Right" he glanced at the clock on his bed side table. "You guys should probably lie low for a little while."

"Why?" Kitty asked.

Bobby concentrated, letting his mind reach out and sense the water molecules within and outside the mansion. As good as Logan's senses, he could tell people were in the mansion, who they were and where they were.

He smiled ruefully. "I have to tell the others that I told you."

"You what?!"

Bobby sighed inwardly. Of all the people he had to inform of his decision, Scott and the Professor were the least looked forward too.

"That was irresponsible and reckless! Dammit Bobby you know what's at stake! D'you even realise what your actions could have done!?"

Bobby tuned Scott out and let himself eye his mentors, Xavier and Logan. Xavier's face was expressionless but Logan's was a tad above stoic. His eyes met the other mans for an instant and he was sure he saw approval glint in them for a split second.

"Yes Scott I do know what could have happened" Bobby said interrupting the older boys tirade. Honestly there were times Scott made him feel like a five year old. "Look Emma confronting them meant that things couldn't stay quiet much longer. They were being thrown little bits from all sides; it's better they learn the truth and find out there reactions."

"So you took it upon yourself to decide when and what to tell them? You should have waited-"

"They cornered me Scott" Bobby said irritably. "And it's better they know the truth and that we know they're still willing to stay. It means we can actually trust each other better and in a situation like before, we ought to know we can trust our teammates!"

There was silence. Scott still looked angry, but had stalled momentarily. Logan had an almost proud look on his face. Xavier looked up and met the eyes of his youngest pupil.

"I understand your decision Bobby and I respect it" he said softly. "I was naive to think by keeping Kurt and Kitty from the truth they would be safe from the horrors of the past. But you are right; they deserve and need to now if such an occasion were to rise again. Perhaps forewarned is forearmed this time. But" his eyes narrowed slightly, though he smiled faintly "do not take it upon yourself to speak for the X-Men. That is my purpose."

Twinkling blue eyes met brown and Bobby knew he was kidding. Thank God the Professor had some sense of humour.

"Well then" Xavier said briskly. "I believe this means that trust can be truly established between the older and newer students without suspicions in the air. But for now, I believe some of us still have work to do." He smirked slightly at Bobby, who groaned loudly. He still had homework!

_Ok, does this make sense? Flow ok? I really need to know can't really tell anymore. So I'd appreciate it if you let me know. Thanks! _


	7. Chapter 7

"Move out!" Scott yelled, firing an optic blast at an incoming target, knocking it out of Kurt's path.

"Cheers!" Kurt had time to yell before leaping out of the way of a laser bolt. He disappeared with a puff of smoke and reappeared several metres to the side.

"Watch it Jeannie!" Bobby hollered. Soaring through the air on an ice-slide, he hurled a javelin of ice straight into the heart of a laser cannon about to fire at a hovering Jean. With a whine, the cannon tried to fire, failed and died quietly.

"Whoo-hoo!" laughing, Kitty phased through the swarm of flying laser bots, leaping from one onto another, the bolts passing through her harmlessly. Gasping for breath, she air-walked upward just in time to re-solidify catch Bobby's hand as he passed.

"Go to your right, Bobby!" Jean shouted, moving towards him. Bobby directed his slide at once, while Jean raised an arm, seizing a larger walking robot. With her mind she lifted it and aimed its cannon at its counterparts, Scott protecting her from shots as she did so.

"Time!" a voice resonated from the watching station. The firing machinery stopped at once.

Breathing hard, Jean drifted back to the ground beside Scott. Bobby and Kitty landed not to far away and Kurt teleported beside them an instant later.

The doors to the Danger Room opened and the Professor wheeled in. "Well done" he said smiling. "A good use of team work and trust. Very important. Now go on or you'll be late for school."

Kitty glanced at her watch and groaned. "Come on, we'd better hurry."

Half an hour later, the X-Men had washed, dressed and had driven to school and arrived with minutes to spare.

"Thank God" Jean sighed as she vaulted out of Scott's car. "If I'm late one more time, Ms. Evans will give me detention for sure."

"Nothing like being a rebel Jeannie" Bobby said brightly as he got out of his car, Kurt and Kitty tumbling out too.

"Uh-huh" Jean grinned back at him. "See you later Badass. You too, Kurt, Kitty, Scott" she added, flashing Scott a quick small smile before departing. Within moments she was surrounded by a couple of girls.

"Uh yeah! See you later....Jean" Scott trailed off as Jean disappeared. Kitty and Kurt exchanged grins, while Bobby shook his head to the heavens. It was just a shame locking the two to them into a closet wouldn't work because of their powers. Otherwise he'd have done it long ago.

"Come on Slim" he said. "We gotta go to class."

"Huh? Oh yeah, class. Let's go" Scott headed towards the school. Silently giggling, Kitty followed while Bobby rolled his eyes to Kurt. Kurt grinned.

Bobby sighed and slid into homeroom five minutes later just as the bell rang. He rolled his neck working out kinks that had formed during training before digging into his bag for his English book and flipping it open.

He grimaced. This project unfortunately required cooperation between partners and right now his still believed he and his friends were trying to hurt her. It was infuriating. And he hadn't gotten as far as he would like in making notes for it because of the talk over the weekend and its repercussions.

_At least the mansions sorted,_ he consoled himself. Kurt and Kitty's ambush had at least resolved the tension that had been building up with the mansions occupants. Although it did point him to be the soft one in the older core team according to Logan. He rolled his eyes.

And at least Kurt and Kitty hadn't decided to leave or completely freaked out about the past. They were uneasy about it, but adamant to remain and prove themselves.

_That's probably why the Professor didn't make a bigger deal about me disobeying his orders_, he thought wryly.

And things with Scott and Jean were more or less the same. He had been a little worried that the arrival of new students would undermine their friendship. But it remained strong as the three tried to mentor the others, not very successfully as of yet. But then again, Scott was the one who really tried; Jean and Bobby were less inclined to play drill sergeant.

His mood lifting from encouraging thoughts, Bobby pulled out his notepad and spent the rest of the class scribbling away notes, facts and figures.

The bell rang, jerking him out of Shakespearean England. Cursing softly, he quickly gathered his things and headed out. His stomach dropped as he remembered what he had next. Chem. with Rouge.

Steeling himself, he walked into the filling classroom. He peered around and saw Rouge sitting where they'd sat last week; he'd been made her unofficial study buddy for most classes. So far she was alone in their area.

Letting his mind calm a little he walked over and sat down across from her. Her eyes on the counter, she gave no indication that she was aware of his presence.

"Uh hi" Bobby said awkwardly. She shifted a little and raised her eyes to meet his. They were hard and stony. She dropped them again.

Bobby glanced around. The room was full, but Mr. Kimberly wasn't here yet, so it was loud and boisterous.

"Listen Rouge" he said quietly. "I know you think my friends and I want to hurt you, but we don't. We never wanted that."

Rouge gave a quiet derisive snort. "Yeah right" she muttered in her Southern drawl. It was more pronounced when she was sarcastic.

Resisting the urge to snap, he answered simply. "Yes. We don't want to hurt you and we never did."

Rouge gave a sharp laugh and lifted her head, eyes blazing. "Sure, right. Ah was just hallucinating when Ah got attacked by your _friends._"

"Not hallucinating" Bobby muttered. Knowing full well she wouldn't believe him if he brought up shape-shifting he tried not to mention that. "Look it wasn't my friends that attacked you that night. They were there but they just wanted to talk to you."

"Right" Rouge drawled again, eyes furious. "So where were you when they wanted to _talk_ to me?"

"Here" he answered, silently willing himself not to rise to her bait. "Basketball."

"A jock" she looked disdainful, as though he fallen even further down in her estimation.

"Hardly" he retorted.

"Look" Rouge leant forward staring directly into Bobby's eye. "Ah know we've gotta work together for our project. We'll work together. Through lunch and study class after school, and for anything else we get paired up in. But Ah'm not gonna listen to your bull. We do our work and that's that. Assuming ya'll be doing it, right?" she arched an eyebrow.

"Look" he started furious, but his answer was cut off as the door opened and a burly man of about twenty strolled in.

"Ah hello" he smiled warmly. "I am deeply sorry for being late; I was held back by the track team. Allow me to introduce myself; I am Mr. Henry and I am your substitute chem. and gym teacher. Now I am here to...."

Bobby zoned out the rest of the teacher's speech still seething from Rouge's words. He knew this was going to be hard, but honestly she could at least be civil.

_And you are so civil to Magneto and his cronies _a voice sounding suspiciously like his old friend Warren's spoke up in the back of his mind.

_Shut up._

Jean sat in the oppressive history class, her mind wandering. The teacher Mr. Clarke was blissfully unaware that most of the students were in a zombie like daze. Jean would normally try and pay attention to teachers like this, feeling somewhat sorry for them. However the man made no attempt to try to make the American Revolution even slightly interesting and from the vague impressions she got from his idle thoughts, he honestly didn't care about his students feelings. Besides, her telepathic powers gave her the advantage of a photographic memory. So Jean overrode her conscious and let her drift.

Duncan was trying to persuade her to go steady with her and she had been spending increasing amounts of time weighing the idea in her mind. He was very good looking, popular athletic and was definitely interested in her. The downside was he didn't know about her 'gifts' and that was unlikely to change for the distant future. And also however reluctant she was to admit it, he could be a bit of jerk.

_But that's just because of his upbringing _she argued. Rich and influential Duncan's family had a lot of clout in Bayville. It was expected that some of that rubbed off on him and he thought he was a little above others.

_And he's really cute. And sporty. And interested. So why not?_

An image of Scott flickered in her minds eye and she impatiently brushed it aside. Scott was a great guy. But she wasn't interested in him. Not even a little.

_Ok maybe a little _she admitted hesitantly to herself before shying away from the thought. Okay she had a tiny bit of a crush on Scott, maybe. But what if he didn't feel the same way? She didn't want to lose his friendship and divide her friends because of misunderstandings.

_What makes you think he's not interested?_ A voice inquired in the back of her mind.

_Because he'd have asked me out by now. _She answered back.

_Not if he thinks _you're_ not interested._

_Ahh! _Angry with herself she forced herself to stop. Talking to herself wasn't a good sign even in her own head.

_Maybe I should drag Bobby along on a date with Duncan. Get his opinion. _

_You already know his opinion. A great blonde ape, right? _The little voice spoke up again. Jean let her head drop onto her book.

_Maybe I should just join a convent._

_Now there's an idea. _

_Oh shut up._

"Let's go, move out!" the new teacher Mr. Henry shouted.

Breathing evenly despite the exertion, Bobby jogged lightly round the track, feeling his leg muscles stretch and contract. There was nothing like exercise to clear your mind, something he would never, ever say in the presence of Logan.

The sub, Mr. Henry was turning out to be a good guy. He was a great chem. teacher as he'd discovered earlier after pulling himself from his funk. Not that he had any problems with chemistry, but he was impressed by his way of simplifying things for people to understand. Now he turned out to be a great gym teacher too. All in all, he was shaping out pretty good.

"Ok over here!" Henry called to the class, drawing the teens towards him.

"Alright, since I'm new here I'll just figure out how advanced your class is. Track, hurdles, the lot, ok?" he smiled at the slight groans. Bobby merely grinned. This was going to help him get over being so angry.

Thirty minutes later, Bobby's breathing was harsh and ragged; though his body was dry from sweat. He had thrown himself into the exercises, feeling his body push and surge. He'd gone around the track twice, the second time going over hurdles, done the high jump and javelin throwing several times and gone through the schools obstacle course. He'd feel it later from Danger Room to this, but right now, that was unimportant. What was important was burning of his excess energy before it manifested into ice explosions.

He was about to trot to the track line again before Henry's called him over. "Drake."

Puzzled he turned to the coach, who was eyeing him oddly.

"Hit the showers Drake; you've done enough today."

"What?" he was taken aback. The old coach would never send people off class early. "Why?"

"Humour me. It's my first day; I'd rather not get fired for letting my students collapse from exhaustion. It's not a sterling first impression." He smiled broadly. There was something vaguely familiar about his smile.

Bobby opened his mouth to protest, but Henry beat him to it. "You've exorcised your feelings enough for today Bobby. Showers. Now."

Bobby eyed him for a second before giving in. "Yes sir."

"I'm starving!" Kurt proclaimed, biting into his sandwich with relish. It was somewhat odd not to see his tail swishing behind him as he devoured his lunch.

"Me too" Kitty sighed, tucking into her fries. "Class is tough enough without having Lance or the rest of those jerks around too."

"Are they doing anything?" Scott said sharply.

"Just fooling around" Kurt shrugged. "Zhey're not going to cause trouble Scott, I don't think Magneto vould be very happy."

"He wouldn't" Bobby didn't open his eyes. "Mind you that won't stop them from testing the water. They'll pick a fight soon enough."

"You like you've already had a fight" Kurt observed, looking at Bobby's tired face.

"You haven't have you?" Scott said sternly, though there was a faint note of concern in his voice.

"No just got carried away in gym" Bobby cracked a small smile before heaving himself upright and helping himself to his own lunch.

"You really need to find another outlet" Scott said watching his friend take a healthy swig of soda. Bobby shrugged.

"Another outlet for what?" Kitty asked.

"When I get angry or want to blow some steam, if I can't use my powers I exercise" Bobby explained.

"Exercise" Scott said sceptically. Bobby ignored him.

"What were you angry about?" Kitty asked in concern.

"Rouge" Bobby said simply. "It's bad enough I have to try to convince her we're not her enemy, but we're paired together for English and are partners in chem. and physics too. It's kinda hard being study buddy's when she hates me and you guys, not to mention the fact I can't really blame her."

"Zhat vould be awkward" Kurt agreed.

"Yeah" Bobby sighed. "I'm trying to talk to her, but she's not making it easy. Of course being attacked by a shape shifter who wanted to turn you away from the X-Men doesn't really sound like a great explanation, does it?"

"Out of all of us you're the best for this" Scott stated firmly. "Mystique didn't copy you, so she thinks you weren't there. And you're also the best at talking to people; you just connect to people better." Scott knew full well he lacked the ease Bobby had when talking to people. Bobby was able to empathise and relate to people in ways Scott knew he'd never possess. The same could be said for Jean the telepath. Bobby was the empathic one, though it could take a while for people to realise it.

Bobby smiled at Scott and continued to eat. He glanced at his watch.

"Damn, I promised to meet Rouge outside to talk about our project." He stood up. "I'll see you later guys."

"Why outside?" Scott asked warily.

"She doesn't trust you guys" he shrugged. "Jeannie will keep in touch, you know her." He rolled his eyes. Jean could be very protective of Bobby especially after Emma.

"Be careful" Scott warned. Bobby shook his head in amusement and left the cafeteria.

"Argh" Kitty groaned in frustration as Lance Alvers and Pietro sauntered into the cafeteria and sat down nearby. At the lunch aisle, the new boy Fred stood out, head and shoulders above the rest as he piled food onto his plate.

_This will probably get ugly_ Scott mentally sighed and began to finish his lunch as quickly as possible.

Bobby quickened his pace as he neared the spot he and Rouge had agreed to meet. The last thing he wanted was for her to have another reason for hating him for not arriving on time.

However when he arrived at the table, she wasn't there. Relieved he sat down, making to open his bag.

_Hello Robert._

Bobby froze at the unpleasantly familiar mental call. He turned to the trees and sure enough a shapely figure emerged from the shadows.

Emma was not what you would call modest about her looks. She looked stunning in a white tailored suit, her blonde hair elegantly swept back. It was hard to believe she was only a little older than Jean; with her looks and mannerisms, she could have been a sophisticated woman of twenty five.

Bobby shifted on his feet; he felt tense and from the amused expression on her face Emma knew it.

"Emma, fairest of the Ice Queens, what do I owe the greatest pleasure of being graced with your company?" he inquired with mock sincerity.

She just smirked. Bobby resisted the temptation to mentally shout for Jean, Emma would probably stop it and he didn't want to be distracted in case she tried something.

"So suspicious Robert" she purred. She smiled at him. "Can't an old friend drop in?"

"Cut the crap Frost. What d'you want?" Bobby said bluntly.

"Oh nothing" she said airily. "I just wanted to meet the X-Men newest members; I heard Xavier had reopened again. And it did not seem gracious to leave down without at least saying hello."

"How thoughtful" Bobby said sarcastically. "Well hello then Emma. So nice of you to interact with people by conventional means."

"Still bitter" she smiled, but her smile was gone and her eyes shadowed ever so slightly. "Well if it makes you feel a little better, I wished to observe Magneto's new team members as well."

"So do you apparently."

"Yes." Emma's smile was glacial. "And I wanted to make one thing perfectly plain to Xavier and his merry band of followers-do not meddle in our business. Our recruits, dealings and disputes are mine alone. I will not be pleased if either the X-Men or Brotherhood dabble in the Hellions affairs and will not be held responsible for the repercussions."

"Right" Bobby said, eyeing her. "You talk to the Brotherhood about this?"

"I spoke to Magneto himself and made it very clear of my standing."

Bobby raised his eyebrows. "And how come you came to me and not the Professor?"

"Xavier thinks to highly about himself and his mission it makes my head hurt. And unlike Xavier, Magneto can take a hint. So be a good little boy and deliver my message."

Bobby smirked at her. "Just know that little warning goes both ways Emma. We'll leave you alone if you leave us alone."

Emma actually laughed. "You are far more intelligent than you let on Robert. She eyed him appraisingly. "And more powerful."

Bobby shifted. Emma had made it very clear just how powerful he actually was. It made him uncomfortable.

Emma frowned and swung her head toward the school building. Bobby turned too and noticed Rouge standing not to far away, clearly hesitating. He felt irritated that he hadn't felt her approach. He would have to work on his sensing molecules power a little.

Emma focused her eyes on Rouge. "A Brotherhood recruit, I take it."

Rouge looked wary. "Who are you?"

"The leader of the Hellions" Emma said simply. Without waiting for Rouge to respond, she turned to Bobby. "Well Robert, it was a pleasure."

"Wish I could say the same" Bobby responded.

"Your manners have something to be desired" Emma returned. "On a note, I would advise you not to return to the school for the rest of your lunch break. The Brotherhood boy Fred Dukes has accidently caused a food fight and the two groups are not happy. Neither is the principal, who plans to make them all clean up the mess." Her eyes were glinting slightly.

"Uh thanks for the warning" Bobby said feeling concerned.

"Until we meet again Robert" Emma turned and swept out of the school, walking as though she owned the earth.

Bobby sighed and turned to Rouge who was still hovering, looking uneasy.

"Ready to start?" he asked brightly, as though Emma had never been there. He decided to tell the others about Emma after school. Jean would flip if she found out. Emma had probably masked her presence and Bobby's mind, otherwise Jean would have come out to investigate. Emma wasn't foolish enough to try Jean's wrath, who not only had a ferocious temper but was, Bobby was sure, the stronger of the two.

Rouge dithered for a second before sitting down. She hesitated before asking "Who was that?"

"Emma Frost" Bobby said briefly, flicking open his book. "The leader of the Hellions."

"And who are the Hellions?" Her curiosity seemed to outweigh her wariness.

"A group in New York like the Brotherhood and the X-Men." Bobby looked up to see comprehension flit across her face. It shut down at the mention of the X-Men. Bobby mentally sighed. _Ah well._

"Have ya got your stuff?" she asked stiffly.

"Mm-hmm."

"Ok" she set about pulling out her books before stopping. She looked at the school and back at Bobby.

"Uh, how does she know there's a food fight?"

"She's a telepath" Bobby said easily and watched Rouge's mouth drop. "Did you do the stuff on the first scene?"

"Urgh" Kurt groaned as he fell into step beside Bobby. "I'm exhausted. Cleaning zhe cafeteria during lunch vas not fun. You vere lucky you veren't zhere man."

"Apparently" Bobby agreed, pulling his car keys from his pocket. "Where's Kitty?"

"She had to hang back in geometry, she flunked her last test."

"Happens."

"Hey guys" Scott joined them. "You guys seen Jean?"

"She's getting a lift from Duncan" Kurt said apologetically. Scott scowled.

Bobby spotted Kitty striding over to them, looking irritated. It became clear what was annoying her when Bobby spotted Lance Alvers trailing after her.

"Hey Kitty!" he shouted walking over. Kitty spotted him and looking relieved she walked over to him. Lance stopped and scowled. Bobby felt Scott move beside him, tense. For a long second, the tension between the boys simmered, before Alvers turned and walked away, fists clenched. Bobby felt a faint tremor ripple underneath him.

"Hey guys" Kitty reached them, looking annoyed. "Lance was trying to get me to talk to him; he's so annoying." She blew out a breath.

"Come on, if you want a ride we're leaving now" Scott said briskly. Bobby glanced at his old friend. Things were heating up. They were going to get nasty.

And it was going to be soon.

_A/N: wow it has been a while since I've updated this story; really sorry I got distracted by another story and the real world, how very rude of it. I'm still working on this story, I'm not giving up on it, but I'd really appreciate reviews, they'll encourage me to update faster. And also let me know if people are interested in the story at all. Don't be fooled, the story will have more action later on._


	8. Chapter 8

Kitty yawned hugely at the table, accidently slopping some coffee over the rim of her mug. Across from her, Kurt was adding sausages to his plate, tail drooping behind him. Scott was drinking orange juice whilst reading the paper, a frown on his face. The kitchen opened and Bobby trooped in yawning.

"Coffee!" he pounced on the idling coffee pot. Seizing a mug he poured a generous amount into it before gulping it down. He sighed in satisfaction before refilling his mug.

"Ah there are some perks of having Logan the first one up" he commented, rummaging in a cupboard for a box of cereal.

"It's too strong" Kitty argued, stifling a yawn.

"But at certain times of day strong coffee is appreciated" he corrected, pouring cereal into a bowl. "Very early morning is one of those times."

"It's eight oh five" Scott commented, still scrutinising the paper.

"And we've been up for two hours in the Danger Room. I feel like I got twenty minutes of beauty sleep" he eyed Scott before shaking his head and sitting down at the table. "Not all of us possess the gene of waking up at the crack of dawn and being so goddamn awake."

"It's called discipline" Scott still didn't look up.

"It's called insanity" Bobby retorted. Kitty giggled and Bobby smirked at her.

"Having you as a house mate makes me more alert on principle Bobby" Scott smirked whilst still looking at the paper.

"Still doesn't make you less weird" Bobby poured milk onto his cereal and began to shovel it into his mouth.

Scott let out a breath of annoyance and finally looked up from the paper and pushing it away.

"Vhat did zhe paper ever do to you Scott?" Kurt inquired.

"The Brotherhood" Scott bit out, looking annoyed.

"Ah our favourite enemies" Kurt said brightly as Bobby had his mouth full.

Swallowing Bobby asked "What're they doing?"

In response, Scott shoved it towards Bobby. Kitty intercepted it and frowned at the page Scott had been studying.

"_Possible seismic activity under the city_" she read. "_Scientists are attempting to confirm if the city of Bayville lies beneath a hidden or unknown fault line in the seismic plate given recent small to moderate tremors have been reported in isolated areas of the city within the last month_."

"Not a fault line" Bobby mused darkly "Just a mutant with an attitude. That'd go down well."

"Zhe papers vould have a field day" Kurt agreed, tail swishing.

"There have also been other things" Scott scowled. "Smashed property, public monuments desecrated, and a small tornado sighting to a part of the town. It's all stretched pretty far out around the town, it doesn't look like its been connected yet, though the mayor is going on about teenage vandals."

"Well he's right" Kitty murmured, folding up the paper.

"How is a tornado connected to zhe Brotherhood?" Kurt asked. "I thought Ororo vas the only person around who could do zhat."

"If he spins fast enough Quicksilver can generate enough force to become a live tornado" Bobby smirked. "Unless the ground's icy."

"The Brotherhood's actions are becoming alarming" a new voice entered the conversation and they turned to see Xavier and Logan enter the room. "Their abuse of their powers could become dangerous if they endanger others or force you to defend yourselves."

"They can't get away with it for too long; Metal Head would go ballistic" Bobby pointed out. "He can't do whatever he's planning if his group muck everything up by fooling around. He wants to be anonymous."

"A good point" Xavier nodded his head. "But still be on your guard. Erik's plan might involve drawing all of you out into the open. He does not want mutants to be anonymous permanently, he wants war."

"He wants a war we'll give him one" Logan said with conviction heading for the coffee maker.

"I have no doubt of that my friend" Xavier smiled slightly. "But he wants a war between mutants and ordinary people. And I fear that could just happen."

"We'll be careful" Scott promised, the others nodded agreement.

Jean came into the kitchen forcing out a "morning" from behind a yawn. She sat and started filling her plate. Bobby poured her some coffee before refilling his cup again.

"How can you drink that so fast?" Kitty asked staring at him. It was his third cup in less than five minutes.

"Caffeine works hot or cold Shadowcat" Bobby grinned. "I'm not the Iceman for nothing."

"Iceman or not you bounce off the walls if you have too much caffeine" Jean said pointedly from beside him. "Or sugar for that matter."

"Jeez you're like my mum" Bobby complained. Jean swatted his head.

"Have some orange juice" she ordered, pushing the jug towards him and taking his coffee mug. "You too Kitty" she added without looking up. Kitty looked at her then Bobby in askance, who shrugged and just pulled the juice towards them.

_Hey Bobby__ would you come with me and Duncan to the cinema this Saturday?_

Bobby lifted his head in surprise from his orange juice to look at Jean. Xavier also looked up, sensing the exchange, but not listening in.

Baffled, Bobby responded in kind. _What? Why?_

_Because he asked me to be his girlfriend and I want your opinion._

_You know my opinion _Bobby telesent back bluntly.

_Please?_

Bobby inwardly sighed. _Fine._

_You're the best. _She withdrew from his mind.

_You so owe me, _Bobby thought as hard as he could to Jean, who grinned slightly at him. At the head of the table Xavier was looking at him in bemused amusement and Bobby hurriedly put his meagre shields up.

"You ok?" Kitty asked Bobby in concern. Bobby lifted his head and found her and Kurt looking at him. Scott was also looking. He shrugged "Yeah fine." He glanced at the clock. "Shouldn't we get going?"

Scott looked too and stood up. "Yeah come on team, we're moving out."

Huffing slightly, Jean swallowed her last bite and stood, taking a banana with her. "I'm buying a blender. I'm going to start making smoothies for the road."

"Whatever" Kitty leapt to her feet. "Come on Jean we're going to be late."

"I'm coming I'm coming" Jean grumbled, trotting after her and Kurt. When she arrived at the garage she saw Scott standing motionless in the middle of the garage, mouth ajar. Jean quickly saw why when she saw his beloved red convertible had undergone a transformation to shocking yellow overnight. She stifled a laugh.

Coming to his senses, Scott whirled. "BOBBY!"

There was laughter ringing from Bobby's little blue car as he and Kurt peeled out of the garage and away from Scott's ire. Giggling, Kitty jogged forward.

"Hey wait for me! I don't want to go to school in that!" she shouted, running after them.

Still suppressing her laughter, Jean moved beside Scott. "It's not too bad" she said optimistically. In truth it wasn't once you got over the blinding colour of the paint.

Scott turned to Jean who saw his lips twitch. "I don't even know how bad it is" he said helplessly. "I just know it's a different colour." He groaned and looked at the car again. "How bad?" he asked, resigned.

"Bright yellow" she informed him.

"Ah well" Scott sighed. "At least they didn't use pink."

"Very true" Jean agreed, smiling widely as she steered him toward the car. Her hand tingled pleasantly as she touched his arm. "Now let's go or we'll be late."

Half an hour later, Bobby parked his car at the school lot, he and Kurt still sniggering at the paint job. Kitty was also even perkier than normal at the prank.

"How bad do you reckon he'll be laughed at today?" she asked uncertainly, the thought suddenly hitting her.

"Probably enough for Duncan to make a stupid comment and get in Jeannie's bad books" Bobby said in a satisfied voice. He could be very sneaky when he wanted to be.

"That's a stretch" Kitty said doubtfully.

"Really?" Bobby raised an eyebrow and glanced over his shoulder. "Look and learn."

Sure enough the little yellow car cruised into the car park at that moment, generating stares from students. Duncan from his little entourage at the main doors let out a hearty guffaw at the sight and sauntered over to the place Scott had parked.

"Hey Summers. Nice paint job. What'd ya do, forget to take the shades off when you were in the store?" he snickered and turned to a frowning Jean, oblivious to her annoyance. "Hey Jean, you should have called me for a ride this morning. Can't believe you drove through town in this." Scott scowled.

"I actually like this colour Duncan" Jean said coolly. "And anyway Scott is my friend, I like being with him." With that, she exited the car gracefully ignoring the two men gaping at her. "Thanks for the ride Scott. I'll see you in chem." She smiled at Scott before walking off without waiting for Duncan. The jock blinked in confusion before jogging off after Jean to make amends. Scott got out of the car slowly, looking quietly pleased.

Bobby snorted. "I still don't get what Jean sees in that idiot" he said referring to Duncan.

"He's cute" Kitty said fairly.

"Looks aren't everything" Kurt said quietly. Kitty blushed and nodded, embarrassed.

"Ah hell" Bobby glanced up as the bell sounded. "Come on or we'll be late."

The three hurried off, biding goodbye as they went to various classrooms. Bobby slid into history just before the bell rang.

"You're late" Mr. Clarke snapped at a flustered girl who entered a minute behind the bell. "Sit down and take out your books. Turn to page fifty seven on the American Constitution created after the Revolution. And no talking."

_This is going to be a long class_ Bobby recognised with a small sigh.

Kitty entered the chem. class just a second behind the bell. Embarrassed, she smiled apologetically to Mr. Henry who smiled reassuringly and turned away. Her relief at not getting into trouble vanished when she realised there was only one free seat and that was beside the one and only Lance Alvers himself. Groaning inwardly, she made her way over to him. His cocky smile was already setting her on edge. He just had to be cute!

"Hey Kitty Cat how's it going?" he said with a now familiar drawl. Kitty frowned and didn't answer. Instead she turned to Mr. Henry's lecture at the front of the class and tried to ignore the guy beside her. This was becoming difficult as he scooted closer to her so that she could smell his cologne. With a finger, he touched the counter, sending a faint tremor through it. Kitty glared at him and he smirked.

"Alright class today we're going to do a practical experiment with the more reactive metals of the periodic table" Mr. Henry announced, thankfully distracting Lance. "Within the periodic table, two groups of metallic elements that are significantly more reactive than other metals in the table. The reason behind this will be discussed in the next class, but today I thought we could do the interesting stuff today." He rubbed his large hands together. Kitty couldn't help but smile. He was a very enthusiastic professor.

"The two reactive groups are the alkali metals and the alkaline earth metals. Of the two, the alkali metals are the more reactive, as I shall demonstrate. Afterwards, I will give you all a minute piece of the alkali metals, lithium, sodium and potassium and also samples of the alkaline metals, barium, magnesium and calcium. You will place them in water and observe the results and record them. The next class we'll discuss the theory work behind the experiment. Pair up to the person beside you and we'll get started."

Kitty suppressed a groan and glanced at a triumphant Lance. Ignoring him, she got up and grabbed a pair of safety glasses and gloves before making her way to the queue for the metals. Once she got them she made her way back to her work area where Lance lounged against the desk. Several girls in the class were eyeing him in great interest.

"Let's get started" she said stiffly, avoiding his eyes and started pulling out several beakers. Filling them up with water from the dispenser, she noticed Lance was still just watching.

"Are you going to help or not?" she snapped.

"Is that a trick question?" he smirked. Kitty gave him a look of disgust and turned back to carefully sorting through the metals.

"Will everyone please watch?" Mr. Henry called. Glad to ignore Lance for longer she turned to see the teacher holding tongs over a glass beaker. Without preamble he dropped it into the beaker. Instantly a loud hiss was heard through the silence and even from where she was Kitty could see a bright purple flame whizzing over the waters surface before dying out.

"That is potassium ladies and gentlemen" he removed his goggles. "You should get the same result to a lesser degree with your samples. You should expect a result similar to that with the other alkalis, but whether greater or less is what I expect you to find out, along with the other metals. One person is to drop the metals in, the other record the results. Off you go!"

"Alright I'll drop the metals in, you record" Lance said abruptly, sauntering over to her. Kitty was surprised he joined in, though it was unsurprising he wanted her to do the actual work. Sighing she pulled out her notepad to copy the names of the metals when a loud hiss made her jerk her head up to see Lance had already started.

"You're supposed to wait until I finished copying the names down!" she glared at him.

"Whoops sorry" he shrugged. "You didn't say anything" he added, smirking. Kitty repressed a violent urge to practise her newfound martial arts moves on him and replied through gritted teeth. "Don't do any others." He shrugged again.

The atmosphere was tense between the two, at least for Kitty. Lance seemed indifferent to her annoyance and continued to press his luck. At one point, he sent a tremor through the table of the pair working beside them, knocking the leftover solution from the experiment onto the designer jacket of a snooty girl, who'd been shooting contemptuous glances at Kitty. She had to swallow a laugh at her reaction and that troubled her. She shouldn't find that funny, it would only encourage him.

The bell rang and gratefully she set the beakers down and scurried out into the hall, only to find Lance following her.

"What do you want?" she hissed at him.

"Ah don't be like that Kitty, we've got geometry now" he smiled and draped an arm over her shoulders. She wiggled free.

"Hey Lance! How're ya doing?" a familiar patronising voice rang out and Pietro appeared. Kitty stifled a groan.

"Why it's the Pretty Kitty!" he exclaimed and grinned widely at Kitty. She sped up to walk through a small crowd, but it was useless to outrun Pietro.

"Ah come on Cat, what's the matter?"

To Kitty's relief, she spotted Scott walking down the other direction. She waved and he noticed her and waved back. His eyes darkened as he spotted who was behind her.

"Oh look who it is. Hiya Summers, how're ya?" Lance drawled coolly.

"There a problem?" Summers responded in kind. "Kitty?"

"We're just going to geometry, Summers, that a crime?" Lance said condescendingly. Though they barely knew each other, they detested each other quite quickly.

"Hey Scott" Kurt arrived. "Hey Kitty you coming to geometry?" he didn't address the Brotherhood boys, merely nodding once to them before walking on. Kitty followed at once, leaving the other three.

"Scott?" Kitty called anxiously. Scott glanced at her and noticed they were attracting curious glances. He returned Lances sneer with a stony expression and walked off, not glancing back. Lance growled in a low voice, staring after him, hands clenched.

"He really pisses me off" he grumbled, reluctantly walking along again with Pietro.

"He's a pain" Pietro agreed. "But he's strong. You don't want to go up against him on your own. They might be goody-goodies, but the X-Men are no weaklings." He lowered his voice. "That's why Father wants them."

Lance sneered. "I can handle Summers. And the rest of them."

Pietro rolled his eyes.

*

Bobby glanced around anxiously waiting for Rogue. It was now lunch break and as she stridently refused to consider meeting him outside school, they were stuck finishing their project during lunch period. Currently, she was taking her time with her bag in the chem. room while he waited for her at the front of the class with Mr. Henry waiting patiently for them both to close the class. The rest of the class had already left.

"Spending lunch together?" Mr. Henry inquired politely.

"We're doing an English project together" Bobby explained quickly, aware of Rogue's presence. "King Lear."

"Ah Shakespeare" Mr. Henry nodded appreciatively. "A brilliant piece of course, though the plot does diverge into two within the play, do you not agree?"

"Yeah it does" Bobby agreed. Remembering a conversation with Hank once, he added "And the characters are too defined as good and evil, no middle ground or deep character depth. Makes it a little dull."

Mr. Henry beamed at him. "Very true. A fine grasp of literature you have Mr. Drake."

"I just have really good friends" Bobby said quickly as Rouge appeared to have finally finished. "See you Mr. Henry."

"Yes indeed" Mr. Henry smiled oddly and waved them out. "Tomorrow my friends."

After they'd left the earshot of their chem. teacher, Bobby glanced at Rogue's impassive face. "Where do you want to go?"

She shrugged. "Outside's fine."

"Ok then" at least she was talking civilly. He made his way to the door and groaned as he saw the sky. Thick dark clouds hung in the air and he could feel the static heeding a thunderstorm.

"It's gonna bucket" he observed. While he could use his powers to negate the weather, he did not have much practise and he didn't like the idea of using them in front of Rouge.

He was surprised to hear a familiar angry voice near by. He frowned. Kitty didn't sound happy.

Rouge had also heard it and had lifted her head warily. She edged slightly away from him. "Sounds like one of ya friends."

"Leave me alone Lance!" he heard Kitty yell. That did it. He started moving toward Kitty's voice. Rouge hung back indecisively before hesitantly following.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Alvers?" another familiar voice snapped. Bobby moved faster. If Scott and Alvers were there, it could get ugly fast.

"Summers" Bobby had finally reached the tables off the corner of the front part of the school. Kitty and Kurt were there along with an irritated Scott, along with Lance, Pietro, Toad and the new kid Fred. The showdown had begun.

"Can't guys hang around without getting grief from Xavier's nerds?" Pietro said patronisingly. "Geez Summers, get a life outside of bothering us, will ya?"

"I believe Kitty asked you to leave her alone" Scott said evenly, arms folded, in front of the younger two.

"It's a free country Summers, we're not doing anything" Alvers sneered. Scott's face managed to grow even more stony.

Recognising an inevitable confrontation, Bobby decided it was best to call Jean. Opening his mind, he concentrated on calling Jean, unaware that Rouge had caught up to him and was a foot behind him, conflicted.

"Look" Kurt, ever the peacemaker "ve don't vant trouble. Let's go guys." He tugged on Kitty's arm and she reluctantly turned away. "Scott" Kurt called, and the leader reluctantly turned away. Lance's lip curled and his hand flexed.

Bobby recognised what he was about to do and forgetting about Jean, he shouted "Scott look out!"

Scott whirled to face the Brotherhood just as a massive tremor rocked the ground beneath them. Scott tumbled backward into Kitty and Kurt and Bobby stumbled backward, colliding with something.

An awful paralyzing pain seared through him. Memories flashed past his eyes; chasing after a cat on wobbly legs, his mother smiling, his father's eyes looking at him disapprovingly, an angry mob crowding around him, Professor Xavier, Frost, Hank-

Gasping for air, Bobby instinctively iced up. The pain cut off abruptly as a coating of ice shielded him from it. Mind foggy, he staggered upright and spun to face the source of the pain.

Blinking to get rid of the spots dancing in front of his eyes, he found himself looking Rouge. She looked as bad as he felt, whimpering, curled up in a ball. Ice was seeping into the ground around her and her body was going crystalline.

Bobby felt oddly detached as he watched her body becoming living ice, the form that Emma had discovered when she'd taken over his mind. Then a loud shout made him turn and remember the skirmish behind him. He started toward it, but felt dizzy and weak. He sat down abruptly, hoping they would be able to handle it.

Scott fired an eyebeam at the Blob, as Fred called himself. He smirked triumphantly and kept coming. Moving quickly out of his way, he hoped the other two were ok. He chanced a quick blast at Lance, who tried to evade but got clipped on the shoulder and went down, cutting off the tremors.

Checking on his friends, he was leased to find they were holding their own. Kurt was holding his own with Pietro, teleporting in a flurry of dark smoke, confusing Quicksilver who tried to use his speed. He began to spin in a fast circle, obviously trying to build up enough momentum to become a twister. Kurt quickly reappeared parallel to the ground and slammed his feet into the spinning Quicksilver, knocking him clean off his feet and crashed into Blob's stomach. Fred lurched back a step before Pietro was thrown back. He landed in a heap on the ground and didn't get up again.

Kitty was phasing through the gunk that Todd was spewing at her. He leaped over tables and trees, tongue lashing out. On an impulse she ran forwards, phasing through the table, before lashing out with her foot. It connected with Toads jaw with a loud crunch and he fell backwards.

Fred let out a war cry and ran at Scott, the ground quaking. For being so fat, he was quite fast. Scott braced himself and began to pull off his glasses as Fred leaped at him.

And hung there, motionless. He looked around in astonishment. Scott didn't waste time and pulled off his glasses, his eyebeams hitting the Blob full on and sending him backward, landing him onto a table, which crashed into splinters.

Scott hurriedly closed his eyes and shoved back on his glasses. He opened his eyes in time to see Jean glide gracefully to earth, looking worried.

"Are you guys ok?" she asked, looking at them.

"Ve are fine" Kurt assured her.

"Humph" Jean glared at Scott. "What happened to being careful and avoiding fighting with the Brotherhood? I recall you promising the Professor you would be careful just this morning."

"They came at us" Scott protested. Seeing Jean's glare, he asked quickly "How did you find out? They were on us so fast I didn't have time to call you."

"Bobby called me" she trailed off. "Where is Bobby?"

"He's not here" Kitty said surprised.

"I heard him earlier, he varned Scott" Kurt frowned.

"I'm here" a tired voice said and they turned to see Bobby walking over to them. He looked pale and was walking slowly.

"Are you ok?" Jean said in concern, walking over to him. "You look awful."

"Lance knocked me into Rogue" Bobby explained wearily. "She ran off a minute ago."

"And you're still standing?" Kurt exclaimed. "She knocked me out for ages!"

"You should probably go home Bobby" Scott said taking in his friend's appearance. "You don't look too good and Rogue's power isn't easy going."

"I'm fine" Bobby said stubbornly. "I'll have some sugar and a nap and I'll be right as rain by the end of lunch break."

Scott sighed. "Well let's go in anyway." A drop of rain fell from the heavens. "It's going to pour."

"What about them?" Kitty asked, looking at the Brotherhood.

"They'll be fine" Jean assured her. "I'll wake them up when we get indoors. They should leave us alone for a while. But everyone should avoid more then two of them or just ignore their threats altogether." She looked pointedly at Scott.

"We'll have to tell the Professor to change security codes" Scott said to Jean, ignoring her comments. "If he's right about Rogue's power, she'll have Bobby's memories."

"I'll let him know when we get inside" Jean nodded.

They set off towards the school as thunder rumbled ominously from the sky above. They didn't notice Principle Darkholme looking out of her office window above them.

_A/N: Wow really sorry I haven't updated in over a month. A month! Not good! Life is just conspiring against me! I hate school. _

_Ah well let me know what you think._


	9. Chapter 9

The mood in the meeting with Xavier was sober. The clash between the Brotherhood and X-Men had been brief, but damaging.

"A line has been crossed today and I have no doubt it is irrelevant now" he said quietly. The students, Logan and Ororo were with him in the conference room. "I have no doubt that after today; the Brotherhood will be unafraid to battle again."

"We won" Kitty pointed out.

"But showed that if pushed, you will fight back with your powers" Xavier sighed.

"That isn't important Charles, they would have known they'd fight back" Logan chipped in.

"But the gauntlet has been thrown and more clashes will follow" Xavier opened his eyes and regarded his students. "You must be vigilant and cautious. The world still doesn't know about mutants and finding out from a teenage skirmish in the middle of nowhere will not be taken kindly."

"Yes Professor" came the subdued response from his students.

"Also, worryingly, is Rogue" Xavier looked at Bobby. "She hasn't actively fought against us yet, but if she were too, we could be at a disadvantage. Her powers are still relatively unknown to us and what we know is not encouraging. Bobby, could I see your account of the fight, please?"

Bobby nodded and extended his hand towards the Professor. The Professor grasped it and Bobby repressed a shudder as he felt the intrusion in his mind. Though he had been around telepaths since he'd discovered he was a mutant, the incident with Emma Frost had left him wary of people in his mind, even Jean and the Professor.

The Professor's mental touch was gentle as he reviewed the encounter with the Brotherhood. Concern emanated from him when he felt the sensations Bobby had experienced from his encounter with Rogue. He also observed the actual contact with Rogue and analysed what he was seeing. He then withdrew from Bobby's mind and Bobby gratefully took his hand back.

"Interesting" Xavier mused aloud to answer the curious looks he was being given. "From Bobby's perspective, I believe I might know what her powers are."

"You going to share your ideas Chuck, or just gonna leave us hangin'?" Logan asked archly.

Xavier smiled slightly. "From what I can tell from both Kurt and Bobby's experience is that Rouge's power is activated by touch. From what you all describe, she wears clothes that completely cover her skin."

"She always wears gloves" Bobby nodded.

Xavier returned the nod. "And her power activated earlier when you crashed into her. For the briefest moment, your bare skin contacted hers and it was in that instant, you experienced the mental and physical attributes of her power."

"So what does her power do, other than take the person's power?" Ororo asked curiously. "We observed that when she touched Kurt."

"Her power first manifested and put a football player into a coma for three weeks" Xavier replied. "And unless I'm very much mistaken, he is not a mutant. When she contacted Kurt he was unconscious for several hours and slightly weak and we observed her using his powers. And when Bobby came into contact with her, she manifested his powers and temporarily weakened him."

"So what does it mean?" Scott asked.

"I believe that Rouge is absorbing a person's energy, their 'life force' when she comes into contact with them" Xavier looked thoughtful. "Absorbing their energy, memories, etc. In the case of mutants, she absorbs the powers of the mutants she comes into contact with."

"Where do you get the idea of the memories Professor?" Jean frowned.

"From what I observed from Bobby's recollection of the event" and eyes turned to Bobby. "Bobby, could you describe what your thoughts and feelings when she contacted you?"

Bobby grimaced at this, but complied. "Well it hurt. A lot. It kinda felt like I couldn't move, like I was paralysed. And for some reason I was thinking about random moments, when I was a kid, here, my folks." Bobby shrugged. "Kinda like what they say when you're about to die, you know, your life flashing before your eyes and all that."

"Zhat's kind of vhat I felt vhen she did it to me" Kurt frowned. "I vas only awake for a moment, but I got hit vith a load of past memories. I just thought it was like you said, life flashing before your eyes." He swished his tail, looking deep in thought.

"I believe that the stream of memories is being pulled from your mind and absorbing into Rogue's along with your powers" Xavier started speaking again. "It would explain why she is in pain when she comes into contact with someone, from trying to make sense of the sudden onslaught of new memories and energy. That said" he looked sombre "I do not know if her hold on the memories and powers she assimilates is permanent, or if it fades away gradually. When she assimilated Kurt's power, I could sense his mind signature instead of her own. Since coming back to Bayville, her signature is her own again, but I do not know if she still possesses Kurt's memories and powers. And if she does still have them, it means she also has Bobby's and would know everything about the Institute that he does."

"Which is pretty much everything" Scott sighed. Bobby winced.

"I'll beef up security and change passwords for everything" Logan looked irritated. "And you lot better watch out for her; I'm not doing this every week."

"Charles" Ororo caught everyone's attention. "If you say Rogue can absorb people's energy and it drains the person, why is it that an ordinary person was in a coma for weeks, when Kurt was unconscious for several hours and Bobby only weakened?"

"I would imagine it has something to do with how long the contact was" Xavier replied thoughtfully. "The longer the contact the more powerful the drain. Mutants are faster healers than ordinary humans, so Kurt and Bobby recovered faster than the other boy. And Bobby is very powerful, meaning that his energy reserves are greater than other mutants. I would surmise that those factors play a role in the drain."

Ororo nodded gracefully, satisfied. Bobby was red in the face, uncomfortable at the remark on his power. Kitty and Kurt were looking at him curiously, while Jean was smirking at her friend's discomfort.

"In any event, I want you all to be extra careful around school and town" Xavier instructed. "The Brotherhood are not to be taken lightly, they are powerful and less inclined to use caution with their powers."

"I still think Metal-Head will put a stop to it" Bobby said, blush gone. "If they're picking fights and drawing attention to themselves, he probably won't be impressed."

"Unless that's what he wants kid" Logan disagreed. "Not that I don't think you've got a point, but he could be trying to pick a fight."

"In any event, be careful" Xavier said firmly. The students nodded. "Now go on, homework has to get started."

There was a groan and the students reluctantly got up. Bobby winced and stretched, feeling a nagging tiredness in his bones.

"Ok Bobby?" Scott asked quietly.

Bobby nodded to the older teen. "Yeah just tired. And I've got basketball practise." He groaned. "If I miss another one, Coach will chew me out."

"What's Pietro like in practise?" Jean asked, coming beside Scott.

Bobby shrugged. "He's pretty good which is why they can't get rid of him. He's a little bit of a ball hog, bit snooty, though it's nothing to how he normally acts and I'm pretty sure he uses some of his powers in the games. Other than that" he shrugged again.

"I'll go with you; I've got soccer practise" Jean said, picking up speed. "Meet you in the garage in fifteen?"

"Sure" Bobby and Scott watched her go.

"I'll see you later" Scott clapped him on the shoulder. "I still have to get my car back to normal" he gave Bobby a half-hearted glare.

Bobby chuckled. "It's water soluble; the hose will take care of it."

"Don't overdo it" Scott walked off.

"Geez, they're practically hovering" Kitty commented, watching the pair go.

"The price of being the baby of the group" Bobby sighed ruefully. "I annoyed them like hell and yet they'd all wait up when I got hurt."

"That's sweet" Kitty smiled.

"If you say so" he shrugged, though he smiled slightly. "What are you guys doing?"

"Homework" Kurt sighed. "Does anyone know vhen the _Theory of Pythagoras_ vill ever be used in life?"

"Nope" the two chorused, causing him to shake his head in despair.

"There are some new films out in the cinema now" Bobby said. "Do you two wanna come and take a break from all the drama tonight?"

"Sounds fun" Kitty agreed eagerly, Kurt nodded.

"Cool" Bobby grinned. "Meet up at eight?"

"See you then" Kitty waved and walked off, Kurt following. Bobby yawned and sighed, shifting off his feet and walked upstairs.

*

Later that night, across town in a large Victorian house, the Brotherhood boys were getting chewed out by Mystique.

"Pathetic" she spat out in a low and dangerous voice. "A juvenile attempt to take on only part of the X-Men and you can't even handle _that_?"

The subjects of her ire were shifting uncomfortably in the tastefully decorated living room. Not even Lance dared to meet Mystique's furious gaze. Pietro was studying the floor, Fred the ceiling and Todd was shifting side to side, looking around as though to find an escape. The only one not suffering Mystique's wrath was Rogue, who was upstairs.

"You were under instructions not to engage the X-Men while plans were being organised" Mystique snarled. "Magneto wants them to join him willingly and does not want them to be misguided because his own team can't follow simple orders!

I have spoken to Magneto about this" she continued and Pietro looked up, alarmed. "And though displeased, he has decided to step up his plans. IF you must get involved in a fight with an X-Man, remember-only the strongest will be accepted. So repeats of today cannot happen. Understood?"

The boys nodded quickly.

"Good" Mystique's posture relaxed slightly and she folded her arms. "Now, Magneto wants you to study Xavier's new recruits, to see if they are worth the effort. Observe them and their powers. The X-Men do not use their powers in the open, but pushed, they will fight back. Create situations where they will be forced to use their powers if you must, but do not engage with them directly on your own. The older recruits have already been accepted, but knowing Xavier, his new recruits could be valuable."

Lance shifted slightly and Mystique eyed him sharply. "What?"

"Why is Summers and the others in and we're not?" he blurted out. "And how come Kitty has to be tested? She's strong and her power's awesome."

"Because she hasn't proven herself and neither have any of you" Mystique said sharply, cutting him off. "And whatever you think about Scott Summers, he and his two pals have. Grey and Drake are two of the most powerful mutants around, as is Xavier and Summers is a natural leader and powerful too boot."

Pietro snorted derisively.

"Drake's powerful?" he said disbelievingly. "I get Red and even Summers, but he's just...."

"Powerful enough to even generate Emma Frost's interest" Mystique said grimly. "And that speaks volumes. He and Grey are very powerful and remember that. They get in no matter what, as does Xavier and Summers. The others will be tested as will you. End of discussion. Was Drake at your practise today?" she shot at Pietro.

"Yeah" he grumbled. "A little slower than normal, but the same as ever."

Mystique mulled that over, looking thoughtful. "Alright. You have your orders. And this time follow them" she said nastily.

Todd and Fred sighed audibly in relief. Fred turned towards the kitchen, while Todd collapsed into one of the chairs. A nasty look from Mystique made him remove his scruffy feet from the fabric.

Mystique rolled her eyes and started up the stairs. Once she disappeared, Pietro zoomed into the kitchen and began peering through the cupboards, sidestepping to avoid the irritated overlarge Fred.

"There's nothing here" he grumbled in disgust. The only items in the cupboards were cereal, sugar, teabags and dried fruit. In the fridge were milk and cheese and yoghurt.

Lance looked at the Spartan cupboards for a moment, sniffed and left the kitchen.

"I'm ordering pizza."

*

Mystique walked down the landing, stopping at a closed door and knocked, before walking in.

"How are you feeling?" she asked quietly, her voice softer than before.

Rogue looked up from where she was reading on her bed. Her room was far cleaner than the boys' down the hall and it made it easier for Mystique to come in and sit down on the bed.

Rouge was a little paler than normal, her attire and makeup adding to her natural pale complexion. With the room dimly lit, she looked like a ghost.

"Alright" she shrugged slightly. "His powers are gone."

"Are his memories?" Mystique asked casually.

Rogue frowned a little before looking away. "Yeah."

Mystique frowned, but Rogue didn't see it. "Do you remember anything? It could help against the X-Men."

Rogue hesitated slightly, before shaking her head. "No not really." She chewed her lip. "He didn't seem bad" she said at length. "His mind. He seemed-nice."

Mystique thought carefully before replying. "He's been with the X-Men since he was fourteen" she said carefully.

Rogue nodded, not really listening before asking abruptly "When did you meet him? I saw you in a couple of his memories before they went."

"Like I said, he's been here since he was fourteen. That's at least two years. We ran into each other from time to time" Mystique shrugged. If Rogue knew the circumstances of some of those meetings, it would be a lot harder to keep the past buried and secret. But, two sides to a story after all.

"You should get some sleep" she said at last. "You should be fine tomorrow."

Rogue nodded. "G'night" she murmured as Mystique left the room.

Mystique sighed and entered her own room, the furthest from the others. Turning on the light, she jumped.

In his red costume and helmet, Magneto stood by the open window, cape billowing in the breeze.

"You have a new assignment" he said without preamble.

*

The loud bell let out an unholy screech, searing through Bobby's head. Groaning quietly, he trudged into English, his first class and fell onto his seat with a grumble. He hadn't slept much last night, tossing and turning from past memories and fears. This was the result of Rogue's power to be sure, triggering old memories. He wondered how she was faring after a trip into his memory lane.

Class didn't start for five minutes, so he let his head drop onto his arms and let out a sigh. He really should have stayed at home.

"Don't look to hot hun" a familiar Southern drawl said quietly somewhere in front of him. Eyes snapping open, he jerked upright.

At the front of desk was Rogue, looking at him oddly. Her face mirrored his, she looked exhausted, her face drawn, as though ill.

Bobby looked at her uncomprehendingly for a moment. "Rogue? Er....hi" he said lamely. He was still reeling with the fact she was initiating conversation with him.

Rouge shifted slightly. "Hi" she said, avoiding his eyes, shifting on her feet. She seemed nervous and unsure and Bobby didn't know why.

"Ah don' know what to believe" she said abruptly. "Ah don't trust yer friends and Ah don't know if Ah trust ya or not. But Ah'll find out."

Bobby stared at her, completely dumbfounded, just as Mr. Burke ambled in. Rouge gave him a curt nod and moved to her seat nearer to the front as other students began to trickle in.

"Alright, everyone" Mr. Burke announced as the bell rang. "Your _King Lear _projects are do today, kindly hand them up, or if you didn't bother, your excuses and I'll decide whether to let you off the hook."

There were a couple of nervous chuckles through the air, but Bobby didn't hear. He was still staring at the back of Rouge's head, thinking.

*

In a private laboratory in Washington DC, a lone guard was walking around the secure facility, presumably undergoing rounds. He was alone; he was sure of that, having taken care of any threats beforehand.

The guard walked up to an imposing stretch of blast proof metal that guarded trespassers from entry. A small palm and retinal scan were on the right hand side of the door. Only a handful of scientists in the facility could enter. But this didn't apply to the guard.

A cold smirk crossed the guard's face, before it inexplicably altered. Ripples and contortions folded through the guard's body as it shifted and took on new features.

An attractive brunette was now standing in the guard's place, contemplating the recognition equipment. She placed her palm on the scanner, whilst leaning down and staring into a bright blue light that rotated and contracted.

A small chime whistled through the silent din and the blast proof door shifted aside with a hiss. The brunette smiled and stepped through the doorway fearlessly, her brown eyes sweeping through the room's contents and fixing on the centre focus of the room. A large tank filled with greenish fluid in which a very large and muscular man floated, bound by thick manacles.

A satisfied smirk crossed the brunette's face and she started forward. Midway, the brunette rippled and contorted, until a new figure strode confidently to the controls operating the tank. Mystique's blue features furrowed as she studied the controls and with supreme confidence, she fiddled with certain buttons, heavily labelled on the panel in front of the tank.

A series of loud hisses shot through the air. Small alarms were activated, which Mystique shut down. And the giant in the tank began to stir.

_A/N: Alright, that's all folks. Sorry, I'd right more but I thought this would do as a 'filler' chapter, ie, learning about Rogue's power, seeds of distrust being planted and the opportunity for an action chapter__ next-the entrance of the Juggernaut, dun dun dun! Hopefully, the action will start to pick up and I can really get going this story. 'Til then folks._


End file.
